H V 

30O6 

I1IW ENTAL DEFECTIVES 



■4e: 



IN 



VIRGINIA 



A Special Report of the STATE BOARD OF 
CHARITIES AND CORRECTIONS to the 
General Assembly of 19 16, on Weak-Minded- 
ness in the State of Virginia ; together with a 
Plan for the Training, Segregation, and Preven- 
tion of the Procreation of the Feeble -Minded 



RICHMOND 

DAVIS BOTTOM, SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC PRINTING 

191H 





Bnnk V 7 f\ ft 



1115 



ou 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



A SPECIAL REPORT 



/^32> 



OF THE 



State Board of Chanties and Corrections 



TO THE 



General Assembly of Nineteen Sixteen 



ON 



WEAK-MINDEDNESS in the STATE OF VIRGINIA 

Together with a Plan for Training, Segregation and 
Prevention of the Procreation of the Feeble-minded 



RICHMOND: 

DAVIS BOTTOM, SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC PRINTING 
1915 



Table of Contents 

Letter of Transmittal to the Governor of Virginia 3-7 

I. General Introduction . . . , 8-11 

II. Report of Visit to Institutions '. 12-17 

III. The Relation of Heredity to Feeble-Mindedness 18-22 

IV. The Relation of Feeble-Mindedness to Insanity 23-30 

V. The Relation of Feeble-Mindedness to Epilepsy 31-38 

VI. The Relation of FeeblehMindedness to Pauperism 39-58 

VII. The Relation of Feeble-JMindedness to Juvenile Delin- 
quency f 59-64 

VIII. The Relation of Feeble-Mindedness to Prostitution.- 65-71 

IX. The Relation of Feeble-MinIdedness to Crime and Drunk- 
enness 72-109 

X. Summary 110-112 

XI. A Plan for the Training, Segregation and Prevention of 

the Procreation of the Feeble-Minded 113-119 

Appendix — The Public School and the Abnormal Child.... 120-128 



EXPLANATION OF SYMBOLS. 

Male female 

■$ ^m feeble- minded. 

IEJ ® Normal. 

LJ O Menfalitij Undetermined. 

# ftiscam-a-q'e.ot Still Birth. 

d% Died in in^ncy. 

LETTERS, &c, USED IN AND AROUND SQUARES AND CIRCLES. 
A Alcoholic — a Drunkard. Ne. Neurotic. Tb. Tuberculous. 

C Criminalistic. Sy. Syphilitic. m In an institution. 

E Epileptic. Sx. Sexually Immoral. ? Implies doubt. 

I . Insane. 

A horizontal (or oblique) line connects persons #ho are legally mated. 

Symbols dependent from the same horizontal line show brothers and 
sisters. 

A vertical line connecting this horizontal line with an individual or 
with a line connecting two individuals, indicates the parent or parents of 
the fraternity. 

When the parents are not married the fact is indicated by a dotted line 
connecting two symbols. 

D, of D. 
NOV 25 1917 



Letter of Transmittal 



His Excellency, Henry Carter Stuart, 

Governor of Virginia. 
Sir: 

The State Board of Charities and Corrections has the honor to transmit 
herewith a special report on feeble-mindedness, as directed by the General 
Assembly in an act approved March 20, 1914. 

Recent reports of departments of the State government which deal with 
social matters indicate that the Commonwealth is not gaining (except as to 
physical health) in the battle against those classes which are burdensome 
to society. Our hospitals for the insane are as good as any in the country, 
but mental disease is not decreasing in Virginia. Our methods of dealing 
with criminals, paupers and other anti-social groups have not resulted in 
the reduction of their numbers; the increase of anti-social classes appears 
to keep pace with the growth of population. This is true not only of Vir- 
ginia, but of the nation at large. It is now generally admitted by specialists 
in social sciences that crime and pauperism, as well as insanity, result 
largely from conditions of the mind, and the inefficiency of our present 
methods of dealing with such classes is doubtless due to our failure to give 
adequate recognition to mental causes. The report herewith presented is 
a study of degeneracy from this point of view, and it is respectfully sug- 
gested that in the perusal of these papers the following facts be kept in 
mind: 

1. That there is an abnormal mental condition precedent to most types 
of insanity and forms of epilepsy, crime, pauperism, etc. 

2. That this neurotic condition is, in the majority of cases, hereditary. 

3. That the form of mental abnomality known as feeble-mindedness is 
the most dangerous, because it is directly inherited, and because from it 
spring many phases of mental disease and defect. 

4. That if we can prevent the reproduction of the neuropathic make-up 
from which mental degeneracy springs, we will greatly reduce the anti-social 
classes. 

5. Investigations in this and other States tend to show that the corrupt 
fruits of mental degeneracy in any community will disappear in proportion 
to the reduction of feeble-mindedness in that community. 

6. And, therefore, that the most urgent need in the work of reducing 
degeneracy is the elimination of the feeble-minded. 

In this connection, Professor C. B. Davenport, one of the foremost 
authorities on the subject of eugenics, says: 

"If the State were to segregate its feeble-minded, were to examine 
for mental defects all immigrants settling in its borders, and were to 
deport those found to be defective, there will be a constantly dimin- 
ishing attendance at State institutions for the feeble-minded, and at 
the end of thirty years there would be practically no use for such 
institutions." 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



For five years, by direction of the General Assembly, this Board has 
been studying feeble-mindedness in Virginia. It was felt that in order to 
complete this study it was necessary to bring to the attention of our law- 
makers the part feeble-mindedness plays in the production of those forms 
of degeneracy which constitute the greatest menace to social advancement, 
and to suggest a method of reducing this menace. Hence the following law 
was enacted : 

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the 
State Board of Charities and Corrections be, and it is, hereby author- 
ized and directed to continue the investigation of the question of the 
weak-minded in the State, other than insane and epileptic, and to 
report to the General Assembly of nineteen hundred and sixteen a 
comprehensive, practical scheme for the training, segregation and the 
prevention of the procreation of mental defectives. 

The said Board is hereby authorized and empowered in its dis- 
cretion to employ such experts as may be found needful to assist in 
the work above outlined. 

Pursuant to this act, the State Board of Charities and Corrections 
determined, 

1. To investigate the relation of feeble-mindedness to insanity and epi- 
lepsy, to juvenile delinquency, to crime, to pauperism and prostitution, in 
order to show the possibility of reducing these forms of degeneracy with 
the consequent tremendous expense ' through the elimination of mental de- 
fectiveness. 

2. To study the methods now in use, for the prevention of feeble-minded- 
ness, in the best institutions of this country. 

Much useful information had already been gathered, and a mass of 
valuable material was on file in this office. The work here reported consists 
largely in verifying, formulating and drawing conclusions from material 
already in hand, and in following out lines of investigation already begun. 

The corps of investigators employed to work one year under the direc- 
tion of this board were Miss Elizabeth E. Webb (now Mrs. William Blakey), 
Miss Ella V. Ball, and Mr. Harvie D. Coghill. 

Mrs. Blakey is a graduate of Vineland, N. J., summer training school, 
and subsequently spent a year and a half at the Vineland institution where 
she received special instruction in the biological and pathological depart- 
ments under Drs. A. W. Peters and W. J. Hickson, and in research under 
Dr. H. H. Goddard. Mrs. Blakey was employed by the school board of Ricn- 
mond during the session of 1913-14, when she made an investigation into 
the mental condition of backward children, and assisted in the organization 
of special classes for such children. As to her efficiency, Professor E. R. 
Johnstone, superintendent of the training school at Vineland, N. J., writes: 

"I neglected to write you regarding Miss Webb's qualifications. 
She was for one year a student in our laboratory, and took two sum- 
mer courses here — the second year she was assisting Dr. Goddard 
with the laboratory work in the training of teachers. We consider 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



her indeed very well qualified for the work suggested. I believe that 
she will do excellent work; you or any one taking her services will 
be much pleased with the results." 

Miss Ball is a B. A. of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, where she 
specialized in sociology. She holds a certificate of graduation from the 
summer training school at Vineland, N. J., and has taken the training 
course given by the Federated Charities of Baltimore, Md. She has done 
settlement work in Richmond. 

Mr. Coghill was for seven years a successful business man in Virginia, 
meanwhile devoting attention to the study of sociology. He resigned to 
pursue studies at Richmond College, specializing in English, French and 
psychology. Afterwards he studied sociology in Europe, and visited many 
of the large European prisons. Last year he was employed in the juvenile 
court of Richmond as acting probation officer, chief record clerk and inves- 
tigator. Mr. Coghill has likewise done some newspaper and magazine work, 
and is a foundation member of the literary group of the Fresh Air Art 
Society of London and a member of a French society for scientific research. 

The secretary has also given the greater portion of his time during the 
year to this investigation, and Drs. A. S. Priddy and W. F. Drewry were 
requested to co-operate. Under the direction of Dr. Priddy, Mrs. Blakey 
was employed several weeks at the Epileptic Colony and the Colony for the 
Feeble-Minded. She also worked under Dr. J. C. King at the Southwestern 
State Hospital, and under Dr. W. F. Drewry at the Central State Hospital, 
and she investigated two degenerate families, one in the mountains and the 
other in the Tidewater section <ef the State. In addition, Dr. Drewry and' 
the secretary studied a group of the best institutions in this country, and 
interviewed many of our leading specialists in mental defectiveness. An 
account of these studies appears in the report. 

Although in our investigations the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for In- 
telligence was extensively used, we by no means depended upon it exclu- 
sively. The major portion of Miss Ball's time was expended in conducting 
investigations into the family, economic, social and school history of those 
the test indicated as feelble-minded. Mr. Coghill spent six months in a 
critical study of our prison population and our jail system, and the em- 
ployees of the board have all devoted part of their time to a study of the 
life history of defectives. 

We have ventured to treat at greater length the subjects of crime and 
pauperism, because the feeble-minded when brought to the attention of the 
legal authorities are usually classed as criminals or paupers. The jail and 
almhouse are, therefore, the institutions where a large proportion of mental 
defectives find refuge. 

In this report a very small portion of the material gathered during the 
investigation is published; to print it all would make the report too long. 
Moreover, the board was reluctant to place before the public the record of 
these pitiful lives. A sense of loyalty to the truth, however, compels the 
publishing of a sufficient amount of the great mass of sorrowful material 
laid away in our files, to enable the reader to form a mental picture of con- 
ditions as they actually exist in Virginia. 



6 State Board of Charities and Corrections 



It should be borne in mind that much of the material used the board 
has been gathering for five or six years, and that this material has been 
verified, tested, and put in shape by specialists during the year. For in- 
stance: During her vacation in 1914, Mrs. Blakey was employed by the 
Men's League of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Richmond, to test by the 
Binet-Simon Measuring Scale the women in the Red-Light District of the 
City of Richmond. One hundred and twenty of these women were subjected 
to the test. The Men's League kindly allowed the board to use Mrs. Blakey's 
report in this investigation. It has been carefully revised, and the family, 
economic, social and school history of as many as possible of the women 
has been studied. The secretary is a member of the investigating commit- 
tee of the vice commission of Richmond, and was afforded by his position 
an exceptionally good opportunity to study the district. In addition, when 
the district was closed, the secretary had charge of the work of assisting 
the women who were destitute, and about one hundred of them were 
brought in touch with our office, and with a group of social workers of the 
city, who aided in the relief work. These observations and investigations 
confirm the results of the Binet test. 

Among the colored children committed to this board by the courts, 
there are many who, according to the Binet test, are feeble-minded. The 
Negro Reformatory is always overcrowded. The alternative, therefore, has 
been to place these children in carefully selected family homes, or to allow 
them to go to jail to serve a short sentence, and then return to the bad en- 
vironment from which they had been taken. "We chose to place them in 
homes. The family history of the children we obtain where possible. Some 
of them we have had under observation for two or three years. They have 
been visited by our agents, and we have secured semi-annual reports from 
the persons in whose homes they are located. These are the children upon 
whose records we have based, in part, the paper on Juvenile Delinquency, 
which is made a part of this report. We have likewise carefully studied 
three or four hundred white children who have been brought into the juve- 
nile courts. 

Nothing in this report has been written in criticism of officials. The 
persons in charge of our institutions should not be blamed for the evils 
resulting from a bad system. We have recorded the facts as they appear to 
us, not in any spirit of criticism, but in order that our people may know 
the truth, and, acting upon it, may be delivered of a grievous burden which, 
if left alone, will increase with the years until it becomes too heavy to be 
borne. 

The bills relating to the feeble-minded, which we will suggest that the 
General Assembly enact into laws, are now being prepared by Hon. Lewis 
H. Macheh, of the Legislative Reference Bureau. 

In the preparation of this report we have studied the reports of all the 
institutions for anti-social classes that we could obtain. "We have likewise 
made use of the report of the Royal Commission for the Study of Mental 
Deficiency of Great Britain. We are especially indebted to Professor E. R. 
Johnstone, Mr. Alexander Johnson, and Dr. H. H. Goddard, of the Training 
School at Vineland, N. J.; to Dr. Walter E. Fernald, of the Institution for 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



the Feeble-Minded at Waverly, Mass.; and to Messrs. John Glenn and H. H. 
Hart, of the Russell Sage Foundation, and to Dr. Walter S. Cornell, director 
of medical inspection of the public schools of Philadelphia, Pa., and Mr. 
W. H. Whittaker, superintendent of the District of Columbia Workhouse. 
Yours very respectfully, 

S. C. HATCHER, 

Chairman. 



Chapter I. 



The General Introduction. 

% 

There will be found in this report the results of a study made pursuant 
to an act of the General Assembly of 1914, for the purpose of suggesting a 
plan for the training, segregation, and prevention of the procreation of the 
weak-minded. 

The term "weak-minded" was doubtless employed instead of the usual 
designation "feeble-minded," because it was intended to broaden the scope 
of this investigation to include other anti-social classes not strictly covered 
by the technical term "feeble-minded." In other words, there was in the 
minds of the originators of the investigation the purpose to find, if possible, 
a more reasonable, humane, and economical method of dealing with the 
manifold manifestations of mental degeneracy (other than insanity and 
epilepsy) than that at present in use in the Commonwealth. 

Accordingly, while it has been found necessary to employ in this report 
the term "feeble-minded" more frequently than any other because the 
classes dealt with are nearly all mental defectives, it must be borne in 
mind that however widely we may differ in our opinions as to the efficiency 
of tests, or in our views with regard to generally accepted definitions and 
classifications, we must agree that there is a large percentage of our popu- 
lation which, though never having been declared insane or epileptic, is 
nevertheless permanently, expensively, and often dangerously anti-social. 
"It is equally plain to all who have given the subject thought that lack of 
attention to this element of our population has resulted in increasing social 
degeneracy with consequent tremendous social and economic loss. These, 
then, are the people with whom this report concerns itself. 

In view of the fact that Virginia is not classed among the wealthy 
States, the Board of Charities has had constantly before it in the prosecu- 
tion of this work the question: Is it not possible to devise a less expensive 
plan than that at present in use? 

The annual cost of the present method of dealing with our anti-social 
classes other than insane and epileptic (as nearly as can be ascertained) 
is as follows: 

Aggregate criminal charges $ 440,528 43 

Aggregate expense of paupers (almshouses and 

out-door relief) 462,010 88 

Expense to churches and to charitable organiza- 
tions of maintaining poor in the State ( esti- 
mated) 2,000,000 00 



$2,902,539 31 



The appalling thing is not the cost per annum of maintaining the anti- 
social classes, but that the present plan, expensive as it is, is only palliative 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



— it temporarily mitigates to a small degree, but does not, nor can it ever 
cure the evils it attempts to cope with — and it not only cannot cure them, 
but it is actually encouraging the anti-social classes to continue in their 
anti-social habits; it educates in crime the beginner in delinquency; it 
tends to make of the jail prisoner a repeater; it pauperizes the impover- 
ished; it encourages the procreation of the feeble-minded; it fills the alms- 
houses with mentally defective folk who are allowed to bring into the world 
feeble-minded children who will in turn populate the almshouses and jails 
of coming generations: year after year it is not only costing the taxpayer 
heavily, but it is piling up a gigantic debt for future generations to pay. 

It is the purpose of this report to endeavor to show not only that our 
present plan of dealing with the anti-social classes is ineffectual, but to 
show just where it fails in the various institutions to meet the social needs. 

Feeble-Mindedness Defined. 

Feeble-mindedness is defined as a "state of mental defect existing from 
birth or from an early age and due to incomplete or abnormal mental de- 
velopment in consequence of which, the person affected is incapabJe of per- 
forming his duties as a member of society in the position of life to which 
he is born." 

The Royal Commission of England defines the high-grade feeble-minded 
as "One who is capable of earning his living under favorable circumstances, 
but is incapable from mental defect existing from birth or from an early 
age of competing on equal terms with his normal fellows or of managing 
himself and his affairs with ordinary prudence." 

Tredgold declares that an essential function of the mind is ability to 
maintain existence; absence of this constitutes abnormality, and he gives 
the following definition: "Arrest of cerebral development in consequence 
of which the person affected is incapable at maturity of so adapting himself 
to his environment or to the requirements of the community as to maintain 
existence independently of external support." 

Prof. E. R. Johnstone, of Vineland, N. J., gives the following classifica- 
tions of the feeble-minded from the standpoint of industrial ability: 

Idiot Low-Grade; an adult with the mentality of a normal child under 

one year old; helpless. 
Middle-Grade; an adult with mentality of normal child one year 

old; feeds self anything. 
High-Grade-, adult with mentality of normal child two years 

old; eats discriminatingly. 

Imbecile., .ho w-tUrade; an adult with mentality of normal child three or 
four years old; plays a little; tries to help. 
Middle-Grade; an adult with mentality of normal child five 

years old; can perform only the simplest tasks. 
Higli-Grade; an adult with mentality of normal child six or 
seven years old; can do little house errands such as 
washing dishes and dusting. 



10 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



Moeox Low^Grade; an adult with mentality of normal child eight or 

nine years old; can scrub, mend, care for room, make 
bed, etc. 

Middle-Grade; an adult with mentality of child ten years old; 
can do regular work; uses tools. 

High-Grade; an adult with mentality of child eleven or twelve 
years old; can do complicated work such as caring 
for animals, using machinery, but cannot plan. 



MORON 



HIGH GRADE 
IMBECILE 



MEDIUM 
IMBECILE 




LOW GRADE 
IMBECILE 



IN MENTAL 
VELOPMEXT. 
Where they stumble — the 
limit of development 
of each type. 
(Reprinted from the sur- 
vey of Oct. 11-13.) 



The BineUSimon Measuring Scale for Intelligence. 

This Scale, which was originated about twelve years ago by Binet and 
Simon, two celebrated French psychologists, consists of a series of graded 
questions, or tests, by which mental development may be measured. It was 
standardized by Binet on the children of the middle class of France, and 
when introduced in the United States, was adapted for American use by 
Dr. H. H. Goddard, of Vineland, N. J. 

Dr. Goddard says of the Scale: "No one should be surprised that the 
Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence has met with criticism and 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 11 

opposition. It is doubtful if even its most ardent advocates read it over 
for the first time without feeling that it must be impossible for such a 
scale to be reliable; and it is only after repeated trials and continual dis- 
covery of the accuracy with which it reveals the facts that one becomes 
convinced that it is not only of value, but of such remarkable accuracy that 
it supersedes everything else. So rapidly has this conviction spread, and 
so widely has it extended, that now those who are familiar with the tests 
have become so entirely confident of their supreme merit that the criticisms 
that from time to time appear only arouse a smile and a feeling akin to 
that which the physician would have for one who might launch a tirade 
against the value of the clinical thermometer." 

Dr. Frank Moore, superintendent of the New Jersey Reformatory for 
Men, uses the Binet scale, but does not consider it infallible, and does not 
depend upon it alone. 

Dr. Walter E. Fernald, of Waverly, Mass, uses in his institution the 
Binet scale; and in addition, a study is made of the family history, school 
history, economic efficiency, moral reactions, and personal knowledge of the 
subject. If three of these show subnormality below the accepted standard, 
the pupil is considered feeble-minded. 

In the use of the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence in this 
investigation, we have classified as feeble-minded all children who have 
reacted more than three years backward, and all adults who have tested 
less than twelve years mentally, provided three of the supplementary tests 
(as used by Dr. Fernald) confirmed the reactions of the psychological test. 



Chapter II. 



Report of visits to Institutions for Mental Defectives, 
September, 1914. 

The object of this tour of inspection was (1) to study the menace of the 
feeble-minded, and (2) the methods in use for dealing with (a) the pre- 
vention of mental defectiveness, and (b) care and maintenance, and the 
economic efficiency of the feeble-minded. Fifteen institutions were visited 
and studied, and much valuable data was collected, the gist of which is 
presented in this paper. 

The Menace of the Feebleminded. 

The civilized nations of the earth are awakening to the menace of the 
feeble-minded, and there is now universal interest in the world-wide inves- 
tigation of this problem. In England a Royal Commission has been at work 
studying the question for the past ten years, and the work at Vineland and 
Waverly in our country has attracted the attention of all enlightened peo- 
ples. Special investigations are being conducted at public expense in New 
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, 
Minnesota, and Virginia. All of the institutions visited were studying the 
question. 

The high-grade imbecile and the moron constitute one of our most 
iserious social problems. These people have none of the stigmata of the 
lower grade of mental deficients, and are not as easily recognized as the 
idiot and low-grade imbecile. They often talk fluently, and many of them 
have good memories. As every one acquainted with psychology knows, the 
mind is composed of intelligence, emotions, and will; consequently, a person 
may show normal intelligence by a test applied to ascertain intelligence, 
and still that person may not have emotional control, and may be so weak 
of will as to be unable to resist ordinary temptations, and is therefore weak- 
minded. But as a rule* persons testing normal by the Binet-Simon scale 
are classed as normal, unless their moral, social, family, and school history 
prove them to be otherwise. As to memory, there are some remarkable in- 
stances in the institutions visited. For example, a girl at Waverly, six 
years old mentally, can give from memory the name of every girl in the 
building. Physically, some morons possess a remarkable degree of attrac- 
tion; for instance, at one institution we were shown a beautiful girl in the 
bloom of young womanhood. She appeared to be normal, but was really 
only nine years old mentally. Her father is in the penitentiary, a sister in 
the reformatory, and she has a brother who is a "rough-neck" imbecile now 
in the reformatory for assaulting little girls. 

While the moron and the high-grade imbecile appear not to be more 
ignorant or silly than their associates, they lack ability to adapt themselves 
to their environment, and "cannot maintain existence independently of 
external support," they cannot manage their affairs with ordinary pru- 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 13 



dence; they cannot overcome the temptations common to normal persons — 
to them the easiest way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. 

In all institutions for the feeble-minded these high-grades are being 
studied. There, they are trained under ideal conditions and by the best 
methods. The result is always the same — their minds will not grow, they 
do not advance mentally. For instance, we saw at Vineland a young man 
twenty years old tested with the Binet-Simon Scale. It was the fourth time 
he had been tested at intervals of six months; each test showed practically 
the same result. His mental age was between seven and eight years. In 
his case two years' training, while it has doubtless improved him industri- 
ally, has not caused him to grow mentally. The doctor said: "He is all 
right here, but out in the world he could easily be led to commit murder or 
any other crime." 

Dr. Goddard, in giving an account of the results of the study of 327 
cases, says: 

"Although every effort born of blind devotion to an ideal has been made 
to make these children normal or at lease relatively high-grade, it has in- 
variably failed, and they have learned nothing that is beyond their mental 
age." 

And so it is in every case. They will not advance mentally. They 
cannot. Everywhere there is a line drawn marking a degree of intelligence 
to which these persons cannot reach. They will inevitably fall by the way- 
side unless some stronger hand give them aid. 

What accentuates the problem, however, is that many of the high-grade 
are sexual perverts and criminals. In the female you find a mind seven to 
ten years with a weak will in the body of an adult, 17 to 30 years of age, 
fully developed sexually, and once she goes wrong, passion-driven, she is 
difficult to control ever after. As with the female, so with the male, only 
the former constitutes the greater menace. A superintendent pointed out a 
group of women aged mentally from seven to eleven (typical of some of the 
girls at the Virginia Home and Industrial School for Girls). He declared 
they were the most difficult to control in the institution, and every one of 
them had had children — from one to three children each. At a leading in- 
stitution the only building we saw with bars on the windows are the one in 
which mentally defective, sexually immoral women were confined. 

The feeble-minded in special institutions for this class were not the only 
ones we found on our tour. We saw them in the reformatories also. At the 
New Jersey Reformatory, Dr. Moore informed us that one-third of the in- 
mates were feeble-minded; that this has been ascertained not by guess, but 
by actual scientific tests, the accuracy of which has been fully proved. He 
added: "Though the law says that no offender shall be admitted who is 
under 16 years of age, and although, too, the average of all is 21. yet 33% 
are below 12 years mentally, and some have been received who are not half 
that old. They are not only deficient in knowledge and ability to learn, 
but they are so weak in will that when they are out from under the control 
of those who would do them good, they are easily led by those who are de- 
signing to do almost any crime." 

But the worst phase of the menace of the feeble-minded is not merely 
the danger from the sexual pervert and the criminally inclined, or that 



14 State Board of Charities and Corrections 



feeble-mindedness is alternately the cause and consequence of alcoholism, 
immorality, pauperism, criminality, insanity, epilepsy, etc., but that feeble- 
mindedness itself is hereditary. Approximately 80% of mental defective- 
ness is transmitted from parent to child, and for reason of lack of self- 
restraint, the high-grade feeble-minded are almost twice as prolific as nor- 
mal folk, as the normal family produces an average of about 4 to the feeble- 
minded family's average of 7 children. 

The Prevention of Feeble-Mindedness. 

In this connection, Von Wagenen, speaking of the great advance that has 
been made in the study of feeble-mindedness in the last ten years, says 
that the principal things to be sought are identification and control, with 
the object finally of elimination, and adds: "We know this: that restriction 
of marriage counts very little, because the feeble-minded don't care for 
marriage. Sterilization is not popular, for the general feeling is against 
it. States where laws have permitted it, have not practiced it to any 
great extent. So that we have to rely on segregation and education." 

We need to know more about the effects of alcohol and syphilis. It 
seems now that alcohol and syphilis actually produce changes in the germ 
cells which tend towards mental deficiency. And there seems to be some 
relation between tuberculosis and feeble-mindedness. The plan for preven- 
tion should be along the lines of elimination of alcohol and all venereal 
diseases, and the prevention of the reproduction of the feeble-minded; be- 
cause it is certain that a large percentage of feeble-mindedness (we do not 
know exactly how much) is hereditary. 

In regard to segregation, Davenport says that it will eliminate feeble- 
mindedness practically in one generation. But it is evident that in making 
this statement he did not take into consideration the carrier of feeble- 
mindedness, i. e., a person one of whose parents or grandparents is feeble- 
minded, and who carries the defective germ plasm which united with a like 
cell will produce feeble-mindedness, although the carriers themselves may 
appear normal. However, segregation would be the means of ridding the 
community at large of much of its crime, pauperism, etc., and it is mainly 
through segregation and education that we will be able to check and stamp 
out the evil. 

As to the educational side, the schools in some States are attempting to 
solve the problem by detecting the feeble-minded in childhood. The New 
Jersey laws require the local school boards to ascertain what children 
in the public schools are three years or more below the normal, and to 
establish backward classes for such children, of not less than ten nor 
more than fifteen children. The law also makes it obligatory upon the 
State Board of Education to prescribe a method of ascertaining what chil- 
dren are three years or more below normal. The method follows: 

1. A study of the whole body of school children to ascertain the pecu- 
liarity of each class of children. (Under the law the formation of classes 
of mentally subnormal is compulsory, provided there are ten such children 
in any school district. $500.00 is appropriated for each teacher.) 

Plan of Investigation: 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 15 

1. Tabulation by each teacher of all pupils on "grade and progress study 
cards." 

2. Classification on the same card of retarded pupils. 

3. A special study by a trained expert of those pupils who appear to be 
accidentally subnormal. 

The retarded children are graded into three classes: (a) miscellaneous, 
(b) incorrigibles, (c) mentally subnormal. The grade and progress study 
cards also show the number of children above the average in ability. They 
are likewise being given special study. This classification is based on two 
theories of importance. First, all the children, and not merely some of 
them, should receive the benefits of education. Second, there are differences 
in the nature of children which must be taken into consideration in courses 
of study, and in the organization of schools. 

To bring about the prevention of feeble-mindedness, we must first get 
the public to realize that there is a problem of the feeble-minded — this will 
go a long way toward the solution of the problem. Then, after we have de- 
tected the moron and the high-grade imbecile in the school, we must en- 
deavor to segregate them in institutions on the colony plan, if possible, 
and until the colonies are large enough to hold the numbers ready, the 
excess should be reasonably and safely supervised and cared for in their 
homes, recognized for what they are; children in intelligence, though men 
and women in body. 

The Care and Maintenance of the Feebleminded, 

Dr. Fernald, at Waverly, Mass., speaking of his charges, says that the 
main idea is to keep them healthy, happy, and out of mischief, and to do 
this, work or recreation must be provided for every hour of the day, and 
that aside from the immediate disciplinary and educational value of the 
work, is the fact that the child is being fitted for a life of usefulness in the 
institution. The inmates seem to take well to the idea, for they assist in 
farm and garden work, help the baker, carpenter, and engineer, run errands 
between buildings, and keep the shoes of 1,300 inmates in repair. They 
also do the printing of the stationery, blanks, circulars, etc., for the school, 
and occupy themselves in many other serviceable ways. The girls work 
in the laundry, do most of the sewing, mending of the institution, and 
wash dishes, make beds, sweep, dust, and assist in the preparation of 
meals. And after the work period comes the play-time, when the children 
resort to well-equipped play grounds in the shady groves, and on rainy 
days assemble in their play rooms, or attend entertainments in the audi- 
torium. 

The motto at Waverly, Mass., "Everybody doing something," expresses 
the spirit of each institution visited. Even the crippled children at West- 
havershaw have their playthings, and are being educated as well as amused 
at the same time. And everywhere it seemed to be the consensus of opinion 
that mental defectives must not only be employed, but that back to the soil 
is the place for them. All new institutions are being located on large farms, 
and built on the colony plan, the patients being segregated in groups of 
fifteen to fifty. Farms of 250 to 2,000 or more acres have been purchased, 



16 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

sometimes at a cost of only $10.00 an, acre, have been cleared and cultivated 
by feeble-minded people, under supervision, and much of this land is now 
worth $100.00 an acre. 

The Economic Efficiency of the Feeble-Minded. 

Throughout the big institution at Waverly we saw evidences of the in- 
dustry of the inmates. In the laundry we found 70 women at work, 60 of 
them being 3 to 10 years old mentally. Some of the inmates have become 
very proficient weavers; last year they wove 4,000 yards of mats and car- 
pets. In the sewing department girls 6 to 10 years old mentally were busily 
plying their needles and running sewing machines. Last year they turned 
out 1,200 dresses, 6,000 shirts, and 2,000 stockings. They also spin, knit, and 
are dextrous at lace-making. Out on the farm we saw 40 low-grade inmates, 
4 to 5 years mentally, clearing up land — digging up stumps and picking 
off stones; others 6 and 9 years mentally were working with them, doing 
the plowing and handling the heavier stumps. We learned that "boys" 
(inmates are usually called "boys" or "girls" no matter how old they are) 
of 4 or 5 years mental age were doing man's work after 4 years' training. 
Before receiving this training, which by the way, has cost no more than 
the ordinary expense of maintenance, they were absolutely worthless to 
society. It has been found, also, that it invariably requires more guards 
to handle the untrained than the trained patient, so in addition to an ad- 
vance from zero to a fair degree of economic efficiency, there is a decrease 
in payroll for attendants. 

In one of the institutions visited, a feeble-minded man cares for 800 
chickens and does the work under supervision as well as a normal person 
could. Another looks after 17 cows winter and summer. He milks two 
of them and does all the stable work. 

Speaking of the efficiency of the feeble-minded man, Mr. Alexander John- 
son, of Vineland, N. J., says that he can be made to provide for himself by 
his work, and places his economic value at 55c. per day. The head matron 
at the Concord, N. H., Hospital for the Insane finds that the women patients 
average what is equal to half a normal person's efficiency. Some authori- 
ties, after placing the average economic value of a farm hand at $1.50 a 
day, and figuring on this basis, have arrived at the conclusion that defec- 
tives, excepting" idiots, vary in economic value from 30c. to 75c. a day. the 
general average being 54.6c, which is more than the cost of care and main- 
tenance. 

Here on Virginia soil we have a few examples of what the feeble- 
minded of the high-grade imbecile and moron class can do. At the State 
penitentiary 15 out of 22 third-conviction men and 88 women out of 96, were 
found to be high-grade imbeciles or morons. Now, as the State receives for 
the labor of these persons 85c. a day for the men, and 50c. a day for the 
women, and every year the penitentiary shows a profit, manifestly they earn 
more than their support. They would earn as much in a colony. At the 
State Farm, out of 78 men examined, 34 were found to be feeble-minded. 
They also are earning their support and could be made to do as well in a 
colony. , 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 1 ) 

At the Virginia Colony for the Feeble-Minded, with a rated capacity of 
only 50, the institution is caring for 63 women. Many of them assist in the 
routine work of cleaning, sewing, mending, washing, and help in the 
preparation of meals. As an example of what is being done, we cite the 
case of the wife of James Z. (see page 53 and frontispiece). This woman 
is the mother of four feeble-minded children, and had, together with her 
husband and growing family, been living on charity for ten years or more, 
before being taken in charge and committed to the colony. She was con- 
stantly a menace to the community in which she lived. Now, after a six 
months' stay in the colony, she is doing well there — is assistant nurse, 
happy and contented in her work, and is spoken of in terms of praise by 
the superintendent. She and several other women of her stamp are more 
than earning their support instead of being burdens and menaces to public 
welfare. However, the institution is not suitably equipped (through lack 
of funds) to train the general run of feeble-minded to become more efficient 
economically; and furthermore, its present population represents only the 
worst cases of feeble-minded women of child-bearing age, and could not be 
regarded as typical of the population of an institution such as they have 
in Massachusetts or New Jersey, for instance. But with its present capacity 
and equipment, it is doing work which augurs well for the future. 

Summary. 

We have seen that the civilized nations of the earth are awakened to 
the menace of feeble-mindedness, and are taking steps for the elimination 
and prevention of this evil; that the worst phase of the matter is that ap- 
proximately 807c of mental defectiveness is transmitted from parent to 
child, and for reason of lack of self-restraint, the high-grade feeble-minded 
are producing 7 children to the normal family's average of 4 children; 
that the principal things to be sought are identification and control, with 
the object finally of elimination; and so we will have to rely largely on 
segregation and education for the prevention of feeble-mindedness. 

We have seen as a result of the study of the methods in use for the care 
and maintenance of the feeble-minded, that the main idea is to keep them 
healthy, happy, and out of mischief, and to do this, suitable work or recre- 
ation must be provided constantly; and that we must take our mental de- 
fectives back to the soil to get the best results. 

We have seen as the result of the study of the economic efficiency of 
mental defectives, both in Northern institutions, and in institutions on 
Virginia soil, that the feeble-minded can, under proper supervision, be made 
self -supporting, excepting idiots. 



Chapter III 



The Relations of Heredity to Feeble-mindness. 

As Shoivn by a Study of a Virginia Family of Defectives. 

It is generally accepted that bad heredity is the cause of fully two- 
thirds of the cases of feeble-mindedness. For instance, Dr. Walter E. Fer- 
nald states that sixty to eighty per cent, are of direct inheritance, and Dr. H. 
H. Gbddard has found that one or both parents of sixty-five per cent, of the 
children in the Vineland institution are actually feeble-minded, and registers 
his conviction that eighty per cent, of feeble-mindedness is hereditary. 

However, it is not the purpose of this study to show similar averages; 
neither is it an attempt to discuss whether or not the laws of Mendel apply 
in the inheritance of feeble-mindedness; but its purpose is to show what 
has been found here in Virginia; to demonstrate by an analysis of a Vir- 
ginia family that where both parents are mentally defective, feeble-minded- 
ness is inherited not only by one child, but by all the children in the family; 
to bring home to us by examples within our gates that the predominating 
cause of feeble-mindedness is found in bad heredity, and that only by 
striking at the fountain-head can we hope to dry up the springs of this evil. 

This paper is an attempt to give briefly an estimate of the mental con- 
dition of the X family through several generations, together with other 
information concerning them which could be obtained in the limited time 
assigned to this division of the investigation. Except in case of deceased 
members, no second hand evidence of an individual's mentality was ac- 
cepted, and even this was in every instance corroborated by the testimony 
of more than one person who had known the subject in his lifetime. The 
informants were, of necessity, persons of undoubted mentality and of stand- 
ing in the community, many of them former employers of the subjects of 
the inquiry. 

Of 468 members of the X family charted, we have evidence concerning 
311 members. Of these, all the living members were personally interviewed 
by the investigator. As a result of this investigation, 310 out of a possible 
311 members of this family are believed to be feeble-minded. 

In the Home of the X's. 

There are representatives of this family in our orphanages and placing- 
out agencies, in the hospitals for the insane, in the reformatories, in the 
Colony for the Feeble-minded, in the penitentiary, and at the State Farm — 
in short, you will find them in every institution for degenerates in the 
State. For generations their name has been a by-word in the communities 
which they have infested. It implies shiftlessness, indolence, general in- 
ability, miscellaneous worthlessness, immorality, vice, and irresponsibility. 
Of them a well-to-do farmer said, "Yes, I know Old Sal and all her tribe. 
Why, they have been living on us for years. What they want that we don't 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 19 

give them, they steal. Sometimes we can get the men to help us in harvest 
time, but they are uncertain and pretty worthless labor at best. You have 
to tell them what to do and then watch them do it." 

A trip to their homes is sufficient to convince even the most skeptical 
that they are "uncertain and pretty worthless," and furthermore that they 
are mentally deficient to a notable degree. To know them one must visit 
them in their homes, as the investigator did. 

In a ram-shackle hovel about twelve feet square, situated at the forks 
of two mountain roads, and overlooking a precipitous slope, lives Old Sal, 
the mother of nine feeble-minded sons and daughters, who in turn have 
propagated their kind until the number of Sal's living descendants aggre- 
gates forty-seven — and apparently not a person of normal mentality among 
them. 

In this hut were found eight persons sitting on a bed covered with filthy 
tags, and huddled about the rickety cook stove in makeshift seats. One 
might have taken them for statues — they were so still. They were not 
working; they were not talking; one felt that they were not even thinking. 
When questioned they answered in monosyllables, and enumerated their 
family connections and respective habitations only after lengthy cross- 
examination. In a half hour of conversation, so one-sided that the word 
seems a misnomer, not a single spontaneous remark was offered by any of 
the group. And yet one felt that their attitude was not caused by antipathy, 
but was rather the result of the indifference, the apathy, the mental leth- 
argy of the typically feeble-minded. 

There were in the room Mary Jane, a slatternly-looking woman of forty- 
five (an illegitimate daughter of lOld Sal), the mother of five illegitimate 
children, all girls; two of Mary Jane's daughters, age 20 and 14, respectively 
— already they had entered a life of prostitution — the girl of 20 has borne 
four illegitimate children, the youngest, two weeks old, being the only 
living one; another granddaughter of Old Sal who claims to be married 
to a man in the neighborhood (said to be feeble-minded), and the children 
of this woman, two girls and. a boy, who already bore the stigmata of feeble- 
mindedness inherited from their defective parents. 

Up the mountain side a few hundred yards, in a hut even smaller and 
more wretched than Old Sal's, lives Phyllis, another illegitimate daughter 
of Old Sal. A physician who has visited her vouches for the existence of 
trachoma, syphilis and hookworm, and in addtion, she is a low-grade im- 
becile and very deaf. Yet despite her many infirmities, she has been al- 
lowed to bring into the world three feeble-minded daughters. 

On the other side of the ravine, a little further up the mountain, is a 
house slightly more pretentious than the others. There are two rooms, one 
above and one below, a small lean-to, and a rickety porch. On the ground 
were several bushels of decaying apples which appeared to have been there 
for a number of days. The cabin, although roomier than the others, is 
also dirtier, which is no surprise when one learns that nine persons occupy 
its limiited space. 

There lives the most vicious and immoral family in a community where 
virtue is not regarded as an asset. This family, which is closely related to 
the X's, consists of Peter Z, his second wife, Catherine, and seven of their 



20 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

thirteen children. They are without exception feeble-minded. Peter is 
about 45 years old, of medium height and weight. Small pale-blue eyes, 
the pupils of which are contracted to tiny dots, seem to stare unseeingly, 
uncomprehendingly at one; and protuberant ears covered along the outer 
edge with long bristly hair, these with certain facial lines make one feel 
that he is not far removed from the brute, and is perhaps cruel with the 
unconscious cruelty of an animal. When questioned, he answered as across 
a misty barrier, and appeared to be laboring always in a mental fog, im- 
pressing one at times as being unable to see, and at others as being unable 
to understand. 

From the family and reputable citizens of the community one learns a 
story that seems well-nigh unbelievable. Peter's first wife, Susan B was a 
feeble-minded member of a family notoriously weak mentally and morally. 
Of this marriage five children were born, all feeble-minded. One of the 
girls, Samantha, had a child by an incestuous union with Peter. The child 
is reported to have been burned alive. Peter is alleged to have said that 
there were too many children around the house, and so the surplus was 
thus eliminated. However, Samantha rebelled and ran away from her un- 
natural father. Peter went after her, and with a doll as bait, enticed her 
to return home. Samantha, although a grown young woman, had never 
owned a doll, and for a season she was happy in her new possession and 
amenable to Peter's discipline. But as time went on she became unman- 
ageable once more and Peter beat her soundly. A good woman of a nearby 
town, telling of an errand of mercy to this little home, said: ''Peter used to 
stand in the middle of the room with a whip in his hand and make the 
woman do as he pleased." On this occasion though, the law stepped in, as- 
serted itself, and Peter served six months on the roads. 

Susan died of cancer sometime ago. She was a weak creature and evi- 
dently very low-grade mentally. In speaking of her family she would often 
say with an air of pride, "You know, my sister Catherine is pretty and 
Peter has just as many children by her as he does by me." Confirming 
this, it is said that Catherine had three children by Peter before Susan's 
death. As would be expected, they are feeble-minded, and the experience 
of Samantha has probably been duplicated in the lives of the two eldest 
girls except that they either lacked her scruples or courage to rebel. If 
any children were born to these girls they have not been heard of. 

Since Susan's death, Catherine and Peter have considered themselves 
married, although no ceremony has been performed. Three more feeble- 
minded children have been born to them, two boys and a girl. Besides 
these there were two other children born to Catherine as a result of illicit 
intercourse with other men. And so the family is still growing. Some- 
thing ought to be done about it? Well, an attempt has been made. At the 
time Peter was sent to the roads for beating Samantha, the children were 
placed in institutions and for a time the family seemed to be broken up. 
But not for long. Placing the children in suitable institutions and leaving 
their parents free to breed at will, would keep the rate of taxation on the 
increase forever providing the necessary institutions. No; such measures 
are palliative. Only by striking at the fountain-head, i. e., by sterilizing 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



21 



or segregating all feeble-minded child-producers, can we hope to dry up 
the springs of feeble-mindedness. 

Summary. 

This investigation reveals the following facts: 

1. In 35 cases where both parents were feeble-minded, 100% of the 140 
children seen were feeble-minded. Twelve of these couples had six or more 
children. 

2. In ten cases where both parents were feeble-minded, where only a 
part of the offspring could be seen, 100% of the children examined were 
defective. Here there were 33 feeble-minded children and 18 uninvestigated. 

3. In 12 cases where one parent was feeble-minded, 100% of the children 
seen were found to be feeble-minded. There were here 32 feeble-minded 
cases and 14 uninvestigated. This would seem to indicate that several of 
the uninvestigated might also be feebTe-minded. 

4. In one case where the mentality of both parents could not be ascer- 
tained, there were 14 feeble-minded children and one undertermined child.. 
Here we would suspect defect in the parents. 

Here is the history of a family perhaps unique, but not essentially dif- 
ferent from dozens of other families in this State. One sees how unerringly 
the results of such unions can be calculated, how rapidly the number of 
defectives increase, and this is not peculiar to any one section of the State, 
nor to any one of the United States. It has been estimated that in every 
State of the Union, so rapidly do they multiply, from 3 to 4% of the popu- 
lation are mentally defective. New Jersey has found that the number of 
defectives within its borders has doubled in one generation. The Depart- 
ment of Public Health and Charities of Philadelphia stated in 1910 that 
Philadelphia had at that time 3,000 evident cases of feeble-minded persons, 
and 8,000 others so deficient that they would be recognized by a trained 
examiner. The second class, no doubt, includes morons, the most difficult 
to detect and the most dangerous to the community. Dr.- Davenport in a 
recent paper discusses the frequency of this class and the necessity of 
recognizing their menace to society. He says: 

"A new plague that rendered 4% of our population, chiefly at the 
most productive age, not only incompetent but a burden costing one 
hundred dollars each yearly to support, would instantly attract uni- 
versal attention and millions of dollars would be forthcoming for its 
study as they have been for the study of cancer. But we have become 
so used to crime, disease and degeneracy that we take them as 
necessary evils. That they were in the world's ignorance, is granted; 
but that they must remain so, is denied." 

However, we are at present concerned only with Virginia, although 
we recognize that other States have the same evil to combat, and wish 
them well in their fighting. The various charts appended to the studies 
that go to make up out State-wide report, represent the degenerates found 



22 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

in Virginia cities, towns, villages, and rural communities, in the mountains, 
the valleys, and by the sea — from every quarter of the State. Who reads 
will see that mental degeneracy is responsible in large degree for pauperism, 
crime, prostitution, and other evils which burden society; and reading will 
think, and thinking will vision what the future of our State will be if we 
•do not sterilize or segregate all feeble-minded child-producers, and thus by 
.striking at the fountain-head dry up the springs of feeble-mindedness. 



Chapter IV 



The Relation of Feeble-mindedness to Insanity. 

As Shown oy a Study of Two Hospitals for the Insane and an Inquiry into 
the Family History of Patients. 

The old idea that "It takes a smart man to become insane" has been 
given up as fallacious, for now we know that the amount of a person's in- 
telligence has nothing to do with it. Unlike feeble-mindedness, which is a 
condition of arrested development due in large proportion to heredity, in- 
sanity is a manifestation of a diseased condition of the brain. And it was 
with the idea of ascertaining whether or not insanity and feeble-mindedness 
come from the same kind of neuropathic families, or in other words, the rela- 
tion of insanity to feeble-mindedness, that this division of the investigation 
was made. 

In this paper we have attempted to establish the relation between in- 
sanity and feeble-mindedness by 

1. A study of mental deficiency in two hospitals for the insane, and 

2. An inquiry into the family history of patients. 

It was through the courtesy and aid of Dr. W. F. Drewry, superintend- 
ent of the Central iState Hospital, and of Dr. J. C. King, superintendent of 
the Southwestern State Hospital, that the first part of this investigation 
was prosecuted, and the second part is based on field work. 

In the Hospitals for the Insane. 

In the Central State Hospital (for the colored insane), 248 patients 
were interviewed, but as 51 proved too demented or disturbed to examine 
with accuracy, the actual number tested with the Binet scale was only 197. 
This number is not truly representative of the population as a whole, but 
is composed of four selected groups as follows: 

1. New cases, or those patients who had entered the hospital during 
the four months preceding the examination. Every patient rational enough 
to answer questions was examined. 

2. Cases selected as feeble-minded by the hospital officials. 

3. The criminal insane. 

4. Cases being sent out on parole. 



24 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



Reactions were obtained as follows: 



GROUP 


Negro 
Number Tested 


Negro 

Pek Cent. 

Feeble-Minded 




Men 


Women 


Men 


Women 


New cases 


68 
17 
40 

8 

133 


46 
22 

8 
8 

84 


82. 3# 
100. i 
92 5* 

50. ic 


89. n 


Selected cases 


95. -H 


Criminal cases 


87.5$ 


Paroled cases 


87.5$ 


Total 





This will not agree with total as several are classified under two heads 

The Correlation Between Chronological and Mental Ages. 



Chronological Age-Mental Age 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


n 


Normal 


Total 


Under 21 


2 

1 


1 
1 


1 
8 
2 


2 

7 
4 

"2 


6 
12 
14 
4 
6 
2 

44 


10 
18 
13 

7 
1 
2 

51 


2 

12 

13 

4 

1 

2 

34 


1 
4 
4 

"i' 


i 
i 

"2 


2 
5 
9 
4 
2 


28 


21-30 


69 


31-40 


59 


41-50 




1 


22 


51-60 




13 


61-70 








6 




3 


3 


11 


15 


10 


4 






Total 


22 


197 



Negro men 87.5$ 



.8$ feeble-minded. 

Negro women 90.9$ feeble-minded 



In the Southwestern State Hospital (for white insane) only three 
groups of patients were examined, i. e., new cases, selected cases and crim- 
inal cases. The total number interviewed was 125, of which 60 were too 
demented, disturbed or sick, to be tested. 

Reactions in 65 cases were obtained as follows: 



GROUP 



White 
Number Tested 



Men 



Women 



White 

Per Cent. 

Feeble-minded 



Men 



Women 



New ceses 

Selected cases.. 
Criminal cases 



Total. 



56 



46. 4$ 
100. f 
69.3$ 



N. B.— Several classified under two heads. 

The Correlation Between Chronological and Mental Ages. 



90. % 

100. i 
100.$ 



Chronological Age— Mental Age 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


Normal 


Total 


Under 21. . 










4 
3 
2 
1 
1 

11 






1 

• 8 
6 
5 
3 

1 


* 


21-30 


1 


1 
1 


1 


5 
2 
2 
1 

1 

11 


2 
3 
3 

1 
1 

10 


'"2' 
2 

4 


21 
16 
13 
7 
3 


31-40 


41-50 "7" 




51-60 






1 


61-70 








1 


2 


2 


Total 


24 


65 





63.1$ feeble-minded. 
White men 58.9$ feeble-minded. White women 92.4$ feeble-minded 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 25 

New Cases.— It will be noted that negro men tested 82.3% and negro 
women 89.1% feeble-minded, against 46.4% of defect in cases of white men 
and 90%? in cases of white women. The reactions of this group give a fair 
idea of the mentality of patients as they enter the hospitals, and it is, there- 
fore, the most indicative of the series. The total percentage of defect is 
78.27c 

Selected Cases. — These cases, as they had already been diagnosed by the 
physicians in charge as feeble-minded, require no comment save that the 
reactions of the psychological test but confirmed the hospital diagnoses. 
The inclusion of these cases in the general tables raises the percentage of 
feeble-mindedness above a level of what might be indicative of the popula- 
tion as a whole. 

Criminal Cases. — Here the negro men show 92.5% and the negro women 
87.5% of defect against a percentage of feeble-mindedness in cases of white 
men of 92.5%? and white women of 87.5%. The inclusion of this group in 
the general tables, as has been said of selected cases, raises the proportion 
of mental inferiority of the total number tested. The total percentage of 
feeble-mindedness in criminal cases is 84.2%. 

Comparing the percentages of defects as shown by the two races, it will 
be noted that 88.8% of negroes registered as feeble-minded, and that the 
whites reacted 63.1% feeble-minded. There appears to be only a slight 
difference between the mental level of the negro males and females, but it 
will be observed that among the whites, males tested 58.9% feeble-minded, 
and the females 92.4%. This, however, may be accounted for when the 
disparity in numbers ' is noted, and the fact taken into consideration that 
as a rule the tendency is to care for cases of insanity among white women 
as long as possible in the home, and that it is only the extreme or difficult 
cases which are sent to the hospital. 

Assuming that the 114 new cases among the negroes and the 38 new 
cases among the whites are representative of the hospital population as a 
whole, the percentages of feeble-mindedness would be as follows: 

The white insane 57 .9% feeble-minded. 

The negro insane 85.1% feeble-minded. 

Granting this to be true, then by eliminating the feeble-minded, we 
would reduce our insane population in these proportions. Certainly the 
results of the test indicate that if we reduce feeble-mindedness we will in 
proportion reduce insanity. 

The Family History of Patients. 

Chart 67. — G. J., one of the criminal insane inmates of a State Hospital, 
is the son of pauper parents, his mother and father now being inmates of 
an almshouse where they have resided for some years. G. J.'s sister, whose 
mental condition could not be' determined, is known to be paralyzed and 
in a home for cripples, and he has a brother in a home for feeble-minded 
boys. One sister is married and has moved away. Her mentality is unde- 
termined. 



26 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



G. J. spent his early years in an orphanage and, later, through running 
afoul of the law, he spent a few years in a reformatory for boys. After 
being liberated, he is said to have fallen in with loose women who used 
him as a servant. He wound up his career by assaulting a woman, when 
for this he was committed to the criminal ward of the State hospital. 

G. J. is imdoubtedly of neuropathic stock which has culminated in in- 
sanity and feeble-mindedness. He is criminal (manic depressive) and a 
high-grade mental defective. He is one of five defectives out of a family of 
six — five-sixths of his known relatives in institutions. 



i\ A 



o 



z 
c 

Sx 



O O 

Pa valued 



A 



CHART 67. 



Chart 64. — In the first generation the central mating is between an alco- 
holic man and woman whose family history is unknown except that she 
had a brother who received outdoor relief for many years. The man's two 
sisters were insane and in a State hospital. This central mating resulted 
in five children, the mental condition of four of whom is undertermined. 
One of the four married and as a result of this union has three children, 
one of whom is reported as normal, one feeble-minded and one a border- 
line case. The fourth person in the second generation is both feeble-minded 
and alcoholic and is married to a feeble-minded woman who has been in 
the State hospital for the insane. They have twelve children, the mental 
condition of one being undetermined, and of the remaining eleven, three died 
in infancy and eight are definitely feeble-minded. We have in this family 
three persons who were in hospitals for the insane, seven border-line cases, 
one "peculiar," and fourteen feeble-minded. 



01 



0- , o 



n 



O' 



a 



o 



-a 



)« 



-o 



'V 



-nil 
-o 

■a 



o 



® 
o 

o 
-a 



-a-f 
-a* 



■a | 

CD 

a 

If 
u 



a 

-a 
-o 

o 

-o 



28 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



Chart 63. — The insane woman on this chart has been a pauper also, and 
was at one time in the same almshouse that sheltered the rest of her family. 
All are feeble-minded, the six children and the father. Of the mother we 



Pauper- 

Entered 
Almshouse 
ifrfci 



E«te ted 
fl/m shcose. 

Pauper ■ „ -**• 



O 



D 

Sx, 



d 

Sx. 



□ 



Sx. 



d. Spinal 
meningitis 

Pauper 



<0 O <> 



Born m Countij 
flirwshot/S-e 



/y^ Itii 

• i 

□ i 

Born »ri 

fl/wshouse 



CHART 63. 



I 

Pa i/ pep 

A 



know nothing except that she disappeared a good many years ago. Two 
of the sisters have been immoral, one having given birth to one illegitimate 
child, and the other to three. All of these children were born in a county 
almshouse. 



I 



Chart 73. — Here is feeble-mindedness 
and insanity co-existent in a family 
in two generations. The patient in the 
second generation was an inmate of a 
State hospital, being both mentally in- 
ferior and insane. His father and 
mother were both feeble-minded, and 
the father was an inmate of another 
institution in the State. His sister was 
also insane and feeble-minded. 



CHART 73. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



29 



Chart 52. — This chart shows insanity in the first generation (the person 
in question having been an inmate of a State hospital), and feeble-minded- 
ness in the second and third generations. This family was for thirty years 
supported by the church of their community. 



A 



TV 



HEART 
TROUBLE 



COLONY FOR 
THE F M 







DOPE 
FIEND 



CHART 52. 



•4YR5 



8YR5. 



Chart 53. — The central mating is between an insane woman who is an 
inmate of a State Hospital and an alcoholic man, both of alcoholic stock. 
Two of their children died in infancy, one is normal, six undetermined 
(one of whom, however, is in an institution), and three feeble-minded. 
This is an example of insanity and feeble-mindedness springing from the 
same general source. (See page 28.) 

In addition to the foregoing cases fourteen others were studied, which 
in the main show the same results, i. e., that feeble-mindedness and insanity 
appear not only in the same individual but in the same families, sometimes 
for several generations. 



Summary. 

From a study of mental deficiency in two State hospitals for the insane, 
taking as typical of the whole population the new cases, or those patients 
who had entered the hospital during the four months preceding the examina- 
tion, we find that 57.9% of the white and 85.1% of the negro insane appear 
feeble-minded; and that furthermore, an inquiry into the family history 
of twenty cases confirms the reactions of the psychological examination, and 



30 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



demonstrates that not only do feeble-mindedness and insanity occur in the 
same individual, but also in the same fraternities, and appear to arise from 
the same neuropathic make-up. 



Q-r^D 






[Ah 



m h e a 



o 



V 



&nn66#na • 

HtQh- 



A A 



A A 



CHART 53. 



Chapter V. 



The Relation of Feeble-mindedness to Epilepsy. 

The growing prevalence of epilepsy and the awakened necessity of 
caring for epileptics led to the establishment in 1910 of a colony in Vir- 
ginia to provide for this class of defectives. That they are usually helpless 
and incapable of defending themselves from the dangers attendant on nor- 
mal life is well known; that they usually transmit to their offspring a taint 
which may produce epilepsy, feeble-mindedness, insanity, or similar dis- 
order of the central nervous system as to induce the adoption of means of 
prevention, has not been so generally recognized; but there are now nine 
States in which laws have been framed to prohibit the marriage of epilep- 
tics. In Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, New Jersey, 
Ohio, Utah, and Washington, the epileptic is recognized as a menace to the 
growth of a healthy community, and these States are seeking to cut off 
the supply of this expensive class of defectives — for it costs more to main- 
tain the individual epileptic than the individual of any other class of de- 
fectives; because he oftentimes has a distinct criminal tendency, he needs 
special medical care, he frequently becomes insane, and for a long term of 
years before the disease has reached its climax, he is liable to marry and 
produce his kind. 

It is impossible as yet to state definitely the principles governing the 
relation of epilepsy and feeble-mindedness, for it is a matter which has not 
yet been cleared up. That one neuropathic strain when united with a like 
strain will produce epilepsy, feeble-mindedness, and insanity, and when 
united with a stronger strain will be manifested in hysteria, neurasthenia 
and the like, has been accepted for some time. Further progress is to be 
made chiefly by the study of family histories. Church and Peterson in 
"Nervous and Mental Diseases," say: 

"In determining the factor of heredity, we must not be content 
with ascertaining the existence of psychoses in the ascendants, but 
we must seek, by careful interrogation of various members of the 
family for some of the hereditary equivalents, such as epilepsy, cho- 
rea, hysteria, neurasthenia, somnambulism, migraine, organic dis- 
eases of the central nervous system, criminal tendencies, eccentrici- 
ties of character, drunkenness, etc., for these equivalents are inter- 
changeable from one generation to another, and are simply evidences 
of instability of the nervous organization that is inherited, not a par- 
ticular neurosis or psychosis, and it must be our aim in the investi- 
gation of the progenitors to discover the evidence of this." 

That these indications of neuropathic ancestry are inextricably inter- 
woven is evident to students of mental degeneracy, but to thread the maze 



32 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



and determine the exact degree of relationship is an almost insurmount- 
able task. So this study is only an attempt to show that these two — epi- 
lepsy and feeble-mindedness, go hand in hand, and not in what proportion 
one exceeds or is caused by the other; that they are co-existent; that they 
occur not only in the same fraternity, but oftentimes in the same individ- 
ual; and that the extermination of feeble-mindedness will eliminate a 
large proportion of epilepsy, and do away with much tainted germ plasm 
which is destined to produce more degeneracy. 

This problem has been approached along two lines of research: (1) by 
attempting to determine the mentality of a given group of epileptics, and 
(2) by studying the family histories of several cases with a view to ascer- 
taining what proportion of a known epileptic fraternity was epileptic and 
what proportion feeble-minded. 

The first part of this investigation was prosecuted at the Virginia Epi- 
leptic Colony, through the courtesy of the superintendent, Dr. A. S. Priddy. 
The colony is of such recent origin that the patients comprise principally 
cases transferred from the hospitals for the insane and the county insti- 
tutions, which until this time had been harboring them. Therefore, due 
to the deterioration of mental processes that usually accompany epilepsy, 
the mental measure of the patients is found to be lower than it would be 
in a group of epileptics selected at random from the population at large, or 
from an older institution which includes a greater variety of cases. 

At the Virginia Epileptic Colony. 

Here a simple intelligence test was given to the 106 women comprising 
the population of the colony. This test consisted of asking the patient (1) 
her name; (2) her age; (3) the date; (4) her last place of residence; (5) 
the length of time she had been in the colony; and (6) to write her name. 
The result follows: 



TEST 


Succeed 


Fail 


Per Cent. 
Fail 


Knows name 


69 
27 
25 
50 
37 
33 


37 
79 
81 
56 
69 
73 


34. 9# 


Knows age 


74. 5# 


Knows date. .. 


76.4JS 


Knows last residence 


52.8^ 


Knows length of time in colony 


65.1jg 


Writes name 


68.8^ 







This test, while it is a good picture of the mental condition of inmates 
of the colony, is deemed insufficient evidence on which to base conclusions 
as to the epileptics at large in the State. The lack of knowledge of their 
previous residence and the length of time they had been in the colony, 
these are indicative, as none of them had been inmates very long — many 
but a few months. But to say that 34% of the 3,000 epileptics in the State 
do not know their names is, of course, absurd; to say that this group does 
not, is proof of their need of institutional care. It is also manifestly im- 
possible to draw any conclusions as to the mental condition of these pa- 
tients before their mental processes were affected, as their epilepsy was of 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



33 



too long standing. It would be ridiculous to say of two equally affected 
that the one had been normal and the other feeble-minded. The only clue 
that we find to their previous mentality lies in their family histories, which 
as far as possible, have been investigated. A few of these are presented in 
the following charts: 

Chart 82. — Epilepsy and Feetle-mindedness in Three Generations. — 
The central mating is between a sexually immoral woman who was alco- 
holic, a dope fiend, feeble-minded and epileptic, to a man of whom little is 
known save that he died of paralysis. They had three children, one of 
whom is feeble-minded, one unknown, and one who died at 23 of tubercu- 
losis. The latter, a girl, was also epileptic. By a union with an alcoholic 
man she had an epileptic and feeble-minded daughter. The daughter, also 
an epileptic, married at lo a man of undetermined mentality whose mother 
was feeble-minded. There are no children from this union. Here we have 
epilepsy by direct descent in three generations. 



d. Paraltjs 




Deserted 

t h,s 



-#Sx. 
E 

Dope fiend 



d.^3yrs. 

Tb 



married 
af IS- 



CHART 82. 

Chart 83. — The Family of an Epileptic Patient. — The central mating is 
of an epileptic, insane, feeble-minded woman and a sexually immoral, alco- 
holic man. They had seventeen children, four of whom died in infancy, and 
six were registered as miscarriages. Of the remaining seven children, four 
are feeble-minded and three of undetermined mentality. One of the chil- 
dren, a low-grade imbecile, is in the feeble-minded ward of the colony; one 
married a feeble-minded man and had one miscarriage, one child who died 
in infancy, and one feeble-minded child. We find here epilepsy in the first 
generation and feeble-mindedness in the second and third generations. 



34 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



□ 



4 • 



WANDERER 




D.INF. 



WANDERER 



* DO ^ * * * * » 

^~S D INF. D INF. D.INF. D.INF. 



A 



A 



COLONY 

FOR THE 

Feeble- minded 



CHART 83. 



Chart 84. — A Neuropathic family. — The central mating is of an insane 
immoral woman (a one-time resident of the segregated district) and an 
alcoholic man. They have had five children. The eldest died of "brain 
fever" at 13 months; the second is feeble-minded, the third is epileptic and 
a resident of the colony; the fourth and fifth are in an orphanage — they 
are very young. Note that two generations of alcoholism on the paternal 
side combined with insanity and neuropathic tendencies on the maternal 
side resulted in feeble-mindedness, epilepsy and "brain fever." 



& 



D 



D.45YR5. 
DIABETES 



O 



o 



E- 



D48YRS. 
TB. 



□ D 

D. I9YR5. DI7YR5 

Spinal Drowned 

MENIMGITI5 



D.INF. 



D 



D. 45 VRS. 
APOPLEXY 



o 



<D 

Ne. 

Sx. 



o 

Tb. 



EDO 

A A A 



CHART 84. 



■6 



Ne. 



S 



t 
D. INF. 




^x 



-O x s» 

o 

-oh 






Eh 



-o ^ 
-o **X 



36 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



Chart 85. — An Institutional Family. — Here the central meeting is of a 
feeble-minded, insane, immoral woman, No. 24, (thrice married) and a fee- 
ble-minded, epileptic man who died in the colony. This marriage which was 
the woman's second matrimonial venture, resulted in three feeble-minded 
children, two of whom are now in orphanages. Note that the woman's 
first and second husbands were brothers. By the first husband she had 
three children, one of whom died in. infancy, and the other two are now 
living, one in a reform school and the other with a family said to be im- 
moral. Both are feeble-minded. This woman, No. 24, was married the 
third time to a man with whom she had lived a while before her second 
husband was taken to the colony. Her third husband served a term in the 
penitentiary. He and his twin brother were feeble-minded. While the only 
epileptic member of this family died in the colony, it will be noted that the 
stock is unquestionably degenerate, summing up as follows: 13 feeble- 
minded (of whom one, an epileptic, died in the colony); 2 insane; 5 tuber- 
cular; S had marasmus; 8 died in infancy; a total of 14 in institutions. 
Orphanages, insane asylums, the Epileptic colony, the jail, and the peni- 
tentiary — all have known them to the cost of the taxpayer. This is an ex- 
ample of the rapidity with which defective germ plasm reproduces, with a 
prophecy of what the cost will be in future generations unless action is 
taken now. 



Sx. 



A 



d. 3 0.^r. 
Tuphoid 



Q 



d, 60i/r. 

SunsrroKe 



4 



N 



d. 10yr. d. 12-^r. 

Materia 



a 



4 

DIN 



, O 



CHART 81. 






SOME BUILDINGS AT THE VIRGINIA COLONY FOR FEEBLE- 
MINDED AND EPILEPTICS. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 37 

Chart 81 — A Colored Family reported as i: Queer." — This family con- 
sisted of father, mother and five children. The father died at 30 of typhoid 
fever. The mother at 60 of a "stroke." As the parents have been dead 
for years it is impossible to ascertain their mentality. The first child, a 
daughter, is an epileptic. She graduated at the Negro High School and 
taught in the public schools for several years. Eventually, however, her 
seizures became so frequent that she was forced to give up her position, 
after which she taught a small private school for a while. Finally, she 
married a man who was very immoral and when he tried to exploit her 
she left him. They had one child, mentality unknown. 

The second child died at 20 of malarial fever; the third was feeble- 
minded, and died at twelve; the fourth is apparently normal; the fifth was 
insane and attempted suicide; she was taken to the State Hospital and a 
cure was reported. After being discharged from the Hospital she let her 
child: die of neglect. She now has a second child about three years old. 
Her husband is an alcoholic and has a jail record. 

Chart 90. — Feeble-mindedness in four generations ; epilepsy in two gen- 
erations. — In the central mating the mother is a feeble-minded epileptic, 
a paralytic, and afflicted with tuberculosis; the father a feeble-minded man 
who was alcoholic, sexually immoral and syphilitic. Their two children 
are feeble-minded. The girl is in the colony in the feeble-minded division, 
and the boy has been cared for by a children's agency. He is a degenerate, 
morally as well as mentally, and although only fourteen, seems to be a con- 
firmed thief. He has been placed in many homes, but has stayed in none. 
The stock on both the maternal and paternal side is characterized by a 
high incidence of feeble-mindedness with some epilepsy. Seventeen out 
of the 37 individuals on this chart have been seen and found to be feeble- 
minded. There are five epileptics, three of whom are feeble-minded. This 
is a good example of how feeble-mindedness and epilepsy appear in the same 
fraternity. (See page 36.) 

Summary. 

(1) The families presented in the foregoing, and others studied in 
connection with them, show that epilepsy and feeble-mindedness come from 
the same general defect of the germ plasm in the parents. (2) There is 
not sufficient evidence to enable us to make any definite conclusions as to 
the proportion of epilepsy in a feeble-minded family or the amount of fee- 
ble-mindedness arising from an epileptic fraternity. (3) But, there is suf- 
ficient evidence of the fact that were we able to segregate and prevent the 
procreation of the feeble-minded, this would be the means of eliminating 
a large proportion of epilepsy, and exterminate as well as much other defec- 
tive germ plasm which is likewise destined to produce more defective germ 
plasm, and consequently more paupers, criminals, prostitutes, and other 
degenerates who would burden the taxpayer of future generations. 



38 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 




Ud 



Chapter VI 



The Relation of Feeble-mindedness to Pauperism as shown 
by a Study of Present Methods of Charity. 

This paper reveals the following facts: 

That the people of Virginia spend at least two and one-half million dal- 
lars a year in attempting to aid the destitute. 

That much of this money is being used to perpetuate poverty. 

That our almshouses are virtually lying-in hospitals for feeble-minded 
women. 

That certain feeole-minded families have lived and propagated their 
kind in almshouses for six and seven generations. 

That many of our almshouses are populated by broken down criminals 
and worn out prostitutes, who come to these institutions to recuperate 
that they may be able to further indulge their passions. 

That fully 80% of all persons in oar almshouses are feeble-minded. 

That certain pauper families have been supported by churches and or- 
ganized charities for four and five generations. 

That if these defectives were placed in suitable institutions before be- 
ing wrecked physically, they would be made to earn their own support, and 
thus lighten the taxpayer's burden. 

This study represents six years of field work done in the course of rou- 
tine inspection and one year of special investigation. In routine work 
every almshouse in the [State was visited six times, and in the special in- 
vestigation, thirty-three almshouses were given careful study with regard to 
the heredity, personal, economic, social, mental history of the inmates. 
This investigation was made by trained social workers who not only studied 
the almshouses and inmates, but also made a house to house canvass of 
the beneficiaries of outdoor relief in certain counties, and investigated the 
histories of pauper families known to be the recipients of both legal and 
volunteer outdoor relief. The information thus obtained was supplemented 
by reports from and interviews with pastors of churches and heads of or- 
ganized charities. 

This investigation was made for the purpose of ascertaining: 

(1) To what extent feeble-mindedness is responsible for pauperism; 

(2) The value of present methods of charity; and 

(3) Whether or not a better and more economical system of caring for 
defectives can be formulated. 

Heretofore feeble-mindedness has not been stressed among the various 
assigned causes of poverty. The direct negative causes usually named, are 
tive causes, shiftlessness, indolence, ignorance, lack of training, improvi- 
tive causes, shiftlessness, idolence, ignorance, lack of training, improvi- 
dence, intemperance, crime, vice, immorality, lack of responsibility, and 
family desertion. The indirect or environmental causes named are, lack 
of educational facilities, defective sanitation, poor housing, industrial condi- 



40 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

tions, labor strikes, public calamities, insufficient remuneration for labor, 
congestion of population and immigration. But feeble-mindedness is tbe 
primary cause of a larger proportion of the foregoing assigned causes, and in 
many cases of poverty, tbe assigned cause is only a symptom of feeble- 
mindedness. 

Churches and organized charities, almshouses and outdoor relief authori- 
ties in ignoring feeble-mindedness as a factor in pauperism, have failed 
to r.trite at the root of the matter. If feeble-mindedness is responsible for 
the greater part of pauperism, no method of dealing with the destitute can 
be effective that does not take this fact into consideration. If present 
methods of charity encourage the feeble-minded in anti-social habits and 
aid them to raise families which are and always will be a burden on the 
taxpayer, such methods should be abolished. The relation of feeble-minded- 
ness to pauperism is, therefore, a vital matter and must not be ignored in 
any system of dealing with dependents. 

The Almshouse Population. 

It is commonly supposed that most of the occupants of almshouses have 
been at some time or other persons of respectable life and fairly prosper- 
ous circumstances, who through death, disease, or financial troubles, lost 
their means of livelihood. But such is not the case. The evidences herein 
presented clearly demonstrates that the almshouse is the last resort of in- 
competence and vice; that comparatively few of the inmates have ever 
owned property or kept clear of dependence; and reflects unfavorably on 
the system which forces respectable old and infirm persons to live with 
idiots and prostitutes. An analysis of the almshouse population of Vir- 
ginia shows it to be divided into classes as follows: 

1. Children born in the institution or who have proved so feeble-minded 
they cannot be placed in families, or children's institutions; or who are 
syphilitic or crippled. 

2. Persons admitted in youth in consequence of their inability to earn 
a living. 

3. Persons admitted later in life owing to the death of friends or rela- 
tives who had previously looked after them. 

4. Prostitutes and vagrants — men and women who refuse to work, who 
find food and shelter in the almshouse in winter and tramp in the summer; 
and men and women who through dissipation are broken down and who 
come to the almshouse to recuperate. 

5. Women who come to the almshouse to be confined and who will 
come again and again unless permanently segregated or otherwise given 
adequate protection against lecherous men. 

6. Persons who find themselves friendless in old age. Poverty-stricken 
persons who are diseased. 

The Feeble-Minded in the Almshouse. 

On a visit of inspection to one of our almshouses, we stop at the door 
of a room. Before the door is opened a wild, uncanny sound is heard 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 41 

from within. When you see the cause of the sound, and what a miserable, 
deformed creature she is, the sound seems consistent. She has never 
walked nor talked, and does not know one person from another; in fact, 
she has not even the glimmerings of intelligence manifested by some of 
the lower forms of animal life. She is the illegitimate child of a feeble- 
minded woman who came to the institution more than twenty years ago, 
gave birth to her child, and left it there while she went her way, perhaps 
to repeat the experience in some other community. And now the taxpayers 
are paying the price. 

In the room with this woman is a blind imbecile who takes care of 
the illegitimate baby of a woman who was recently committed to the epilep- 
tic colony. 

In the next room are several persons representing three generations of 
one family, Sam S., his mother, his wife, and four children. Evie S., 
Sam's mother, is physically strong. She is about fifty years old chronolog- 
ically; mental age six. She has no idea of her age nor of anything in- 
volving numbers. So thoroughly does she lack this sense that she is not 
certain how many children she has had. Sam is the only one known to 
be living, and speaking of him, she says, "He was so sickly his Pa wouldn't 
bother with him 'cause he thought he'd die anyhow." The father is sup- 
posed to have killed by strangling or smothering the other babies. "He 
takes spells of going to live with other women," but, "she adds proudly, 
"he always comes back to me." 

Sam is about 32 years old but nine 'years mentally. He is physically 
weak, but says he likes to work if some one that is kind to him will stay 
near and show him how. He went to school part of fourteen years, but can- 
not read and write. His wife is six years old mentally. At the time of her 
marriage she and her parents were inmates of the almshouse of a neighbor- 
ing county. She then lacked one month of being fourteen years old, but in 
spite of her youth, had already given birth to one child, and another was 
born a few weeks after her marriage with Sam. Now at twenty-eight she 
has had fourteen children, seven of whom were born dead, and two died 
under two years of age. The oldest child has been taken into custody, but 
there is little hope of history not repeating itself — in fact, she is already 
following in her mother's footsteps. The next child is seven years old, and 
shows marked mental defect. The younger children, age five and three, 
have been placed with private families. The baby is with the mother, and 
will probably be in an institution the rest of his life, as he is deformed. 
This family has been to the almshouse several times to spend the winter. 
going out as warm weather approaches, but now they think they will stay 
permanently as they get along better there than anywhere else. 

In another part of the almshouse we find an old woman, Mag, her idiot 
daughter, and Jim, the illegitimate child of another feeble-minded daughter. 
Three days ago these people were brought in half-starved, half-frozen, and 
in a pitiful condition. As we look in, we see the old woman rocking her 
body back and forth and striking the wall. Her hair is short, snow white, 
and bushy. It looks as though it has never felt a comb. In marked con- 
trast Mag's is raven black and she is using a comb for the first time, de- 



42 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

lighted as a child with a new toy. Jim hangs by his heels from the foot 
of the bed, and makes noises like a dog, which language he apparently 
knows better than human speech. These persons were brought to the alms- 
house because they were constantly begging for outdoor relief, which, how- 
ever, failed to relieve, for the simple reason that they did not know how 
to prepare food when it was given them. 

Here are Becky and her husband. They were inmates of an almshouse 
fifty miles away. He is paralyzed and claims that as his reason for seek- 
ing aid. Becky is an imbecile. They left the other almshouse to get mar- 
ried, and when they returned were refused admission. So they tried here 
and were admitted, and here they have lived ever since. Their oldest 
child is now thirteen, but only five mentally, and has symptoms of epi- 
lepsy. The other child has been adopted by a family living nearby. 

Lize P. is well up in the fifties, and has spent half of her life in the 
almshouse, and doesn't regret it. iShe first came here to give birth to an 
illegitimate child. She later took her baby and went out to work. Two 
years later she returned to deliver the second illegitimate baby, and since 
then has remained in the institution. Her oldest child, a girl, is mentally 
defective, and is a prostitute. The second child had a negro father. She 
too was a* prostitute until a few years ago, when she married. 

Lize's brother and his family usually spend the winter in this alms- 
house also. His oldest child is sixteen chronologically, and seven mentally. 
She is a prostitute and is now serving her second jail sentence. 

The superintendent's wife says: "Do not forget my best helper," and 
then we see Minnie. Fifteen years ago she came to the almshouse with 
ner two children. She tells her story, "I could work out with one child, 
though it was hard to get a place on account of his being afflicted, but no- 
body would have me with two." 

(She has evidently tried to do right. This is proved by the fact that 
since coming here she. has worked hard and made no trouble. Her son is 
now eighteen years of age but five mentally. He is epileptic. The other 
child fell into a kettle of boiling water and died when three years old. 
Both were illegitimate. 

Minnie is a fine-looking woman, and would be called normal by the cas- 
ual observer. She is a striking example of the type that is too weak to 
make good while out in the world, but does well under kindly supervision. 
She is six years old according to the reactions of the Binet test. 

Besides these related groups we see an idiotic man, a woman, aged three 
mentally, another four years old mentally, two men testing six, a deaf mute 
female, one woman nearly blind, one stone deaf, and two others testing 
nine years. 

All these people are white. Tn the colored wards we find one helpless 
cripple, two old, blind men, and an epileptic. 

Lest the reader should think this an atypical almshouse and not a fair 
sample, we give a glimpse of conditions in the adjoining county. 

Just as we step inside the institution an old woman opens the door and 
says "Come here, Boss, and see where the rats done played hog-eye with 
the only whole coat I got, and me a-savin' it to be buried in!" Truly the 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 43 

rats had wrought ruin to the calico dress, which, according to the custom 
of the section, she calls\ a "coat." In one hand she holds a sleeve and a 
piece of the waist, and upon the bed is the rest. She resumes, "And its 
the only whole coat I ever had that was bought for me and not made! 
like others; 'cause you see I been in the poorhouse all my life." "Were 

you born here, Betty?" is asked. "No, I was born down to 

county poorhouse. My mammy and daddy lived there, and mammy's 
mammy and daddy too. We left in wartime. We were all poorhouse folks. 
I can't tell how many years I been here, but I can tell you many bosses 
we've had." Then follows a long history of her hard work, which charac- 
teristic of her kind she magnifies beyond the realm of probability. Later 
her family history was verified. Tn 1844 her parents entered the almshouse. 
During the civil war they got mad with the keeper's wife and tried to start 
an insurrection. When thwarted in this, they took their daughter and left, 
and soon entered the one in which the daughter now lives. Not only had 
her parents been inmates, but both grandparents and an uncle were also 
inmates, and all were recorded on the books as "simple." 

All of Betty's children are illegitimate. Tom, the eldest, when grown 
decided to go out to work. He made very little as a farm hand and this 
he spent for whiskey and drugs. When a girl refused to marry him, he 
drank laudanum and laid down on the railroad track. This of course was 
the end of his career. The next child had a negro father. He was placed 
out in a home, and has been lost sight of. The only girl, Kate, works out 
for a while and then comes back for a stay. She is an imbecile. Already 
she has given birth to three illegitimate children. Her eldest has been 
placed in an institution in the North. Kate's next child was allowed to 
freeze to death in a blizzard. The third died of spinal meningitis. Kate 
is now at large, and will doubtless continue her career. This, the history 
of five generations of paupers, Betty gives without the least sense of 
shame, or any consciousness that her actions or family history have been 
out of the ordinary way of living. The idea of leaving the almshouse or 
trying to support herself without help has never dawned upon her. 

Betty has for roommates an imbecile woman who is crippled, and a 
woman of eighty years or more who is suffering from senile dementia. 
There is another imbecile too sullen to talk much, but she speaks of two 
illegitimate children, fullgrown — "They won't take care of me, so I don't 
care where they are." Together these women care for the crippled child 
of a woman sent to the colony for the feeble-minded last year. 

Coming to the men's department, we see first George, a representative 
of a notorious mountain family. George has a deformity of the joints, af- 
fecting his knees, ankles and elbows. He cannot walk, but pulls himself 
over the floor. He is of the sullen type of feeble-minded, and has a vicious 
appearance. He has more than once attacked the almshouse superintend- 
ent. He has a brother in a hospital for the insane. 

Next we see a man of fifty whom any one would recognize as an idiot. 
"We just call him 'Boo.' When we came here they called him that and my 
predecessor said that all he knew about him was that one morning when 
he opened the door of the quarters there was a large basket. The lid was 



44 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

removed and there lay a little baby saying 'Boo!' They unpacked the 
basket and found a supply of nice clothes and forty dollars in gold, but no 
clue as to where he came from." 

Cy, the next man we see, is so deaf that conversation is well-nigh im- 
possible. He is an imbecile and has suffered from what he calls the "trim- 
bles" since he was a boy. He. has been an inmate of the almshouse for 
forty years. His father and mother drew outdoor relief from their county 
for a number of years; his eldest sister is in the almshouse of the same 
county, and her illegitimate son died there after having been an inmate 
all his life; another sister, helpless from a stroke of paralysis has been 
there thirty years; and still another sister has a blind child that will soon 
be a charge on some community. 

In the kitchen is Milly, a low grade feeble-minded girl who is also deaf 
and dumb. She is a cousin of Lummy and Eddie X., whose history is 
worthy of note. These persons lived in a small one-room cabin without 
windows or furniture. A little straw was the only bedding, and a few tin 
cans picked up on the mountain-side served as kitchen utensils and dishes. 
The father of this family died several years ago. His mentality was best 
testified to by Lummy, who said "Pap didn't know much. One time he 
picked two gallons of red-top clover and took it to town to sell for dew- 
berries." 

They were noted as the wildest folk in the mountains, and when the 
report came that a baby had been burned alive by its mother, the county 
officers decided the bunch must be broken up. Two miles from the cabin 
the wagons had to be left, and the way made through the bushes. Upon the 
approach of the posse the two oldest sons ran away and hid in caves, but 
the old mother, Rildy and Eddie were brought to the almshouse. Later, 
Lummy was brought in from another part of the county. 

She had gone to live with a cousin because there was nothing to eat at 
home. She is a lowgrade imbecile and very moody. Her two illegitimate 
children died in infancy and were buried at Joe X.'s. 

"Joe is my brother-in-law," she says, "because he married my cousin, 
and was Pap's half-brother." This is the longest sentence she has been 
known to frame, and it speaks for itself. 

Eddie did not know his name when he came to the almshouse. He 
stammers and never talks unless urged to. He is an incorrigible thief. Once 
he was found wearing three pairs of trousers which he had stolen from the 
other inmates. He has no idea of values. At one time he worked in the 
mines. He received one dollar a month wages and paid one dollar a month 
board, according to his account. He tells you that his sister has seventeen 
children, and after naming four, says, "That's all — ain't that seventeen?" 
In his face there is no sign of intelligence, and the same idiotic grin meets 
every remark made to him. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



45 



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46 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

Rildy is now in the colony for the feeble-minded. She has had several 
illegitimate children, but her full history is not obtainable. One child died, 
and one she "put under the back-log and burned up." 

The mother of this tribe died of over-eating soon after she reached the 
almshouse. Other members are at large, some are married and bringing up 
families, and others are bringing up families without being married. One 
of Rildy's brothers is dumb and has a child that is dumb and badly crip- 
pled. 

We find in this institution only three negro inmates. One is a hopeless 
cripple, one has a bad case of locomotor ataxia, and the third is an old 
man who came when too feeble to work. 

Is this sufficient evidence on which to base conclusions? Take another 
institution in the mountain section. 

Here in the men's building we find an old man who has never worked 
and has allowed his children to shift for themselves willingly. His daugh- 
ter-in-law got tired of having him around and made his son put him in the 
almshouse. The old man is too deaf to respond to the Binet test, but does 
not appear to be over nine mentally. He now occupies his time in watching 
Bill, a sixteen year old idiot who was brought here from the State School 
for the Blind. Bill has no habits of cleanliness and is insensible to pain. 
A little while ago he burned his feet severely by putting them on a hot 
stove. Even after they were burned, he did not move them until some one 
made him. There is no nurse at this almshouse and the superintendent 
and his wife are too busy to look after the helpless, so are obliged to have 
this work done by feeble-minded inmates. 

Dick is a fourteen year old boy who tests nine, had his back broken by 
a fall from a tree some years ago. His parents are dead and his sisters 
declared that he was unmanageable, so they turned him out of the house. 
He doesn't know where any of his family are except a sister who works 
for a family in a nearby town. Another sister declared to be weak-minded, 
has been an inmate of the almshouse. 

In the women's building we find huddled about a small stove four piti- 
ful objects. One is suffering from senile dementia and is to be taken to the 
State Hospital in a few days. Another is an idiot who has been an inmate 
more than three-score years. It is said that her whole family were idiots. 
The third has softening of the brain, and has been indifferent to her sur- 
roundings for the past four years. The fourth is the only one that will enter 
into conversation. She talks freely about her family, but never hears from 
them, and cannot give their names. 

In the next room we find Rosa who is thirty-three years oM and tests 
seven. She is badly crippled. She says she has been treated in some hos- 
pital, but cannot tell where. Three years ago she was deserted by her hus- 
band, and since then has been in the almshouse, and likes it very much. 
(She is the mother of five children. The first, she says; ( lived only a few 
days, the next died at three years from "something wrong in his head," and 
the other children were taken by a children's society. The eldest of these 
was tried in several homes, proved a failure, and was finally sent to the 
reformatory on a charge of vagrancy. He tests a little over seven, and is 
fourteen years old. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 47 

Rosa's roommates are Maude and Carrie. Maude is 53 years old, is 
an idiot and an epileptic. An idiot brother died in a city almshouse. Maude 
and her sister, also an idiot, were brought to the almshouse twenty years 
ago. The sister died, and Maude who was in the room, did not say any- 
thing or make any sign that she knew what had happened, so the superin- 
tendent remarked, "Maude, your sister is dead." Maude grinned and said, 
"Aw, gimme her shoes." 

Of Maude's seven brothers all save one were idiots. He got possession 
of the money that belonged to the others and skipped the country. The 
father was epileptic. One night he had a terrific seizure, and his idiot sons 
decided he was dead, so they carried him out into the yard and laid him 
on top of a grape arbor. He was old and it was zero weather, and when 
he was found he was frozen to death. This shows how inadequate is our 
present method of providing for our feeble-minded paupers. 

When a child the old man was adopted by a family that moved West. 
In early manhood he came back to Virginia, and later married the adopted 
daughter of a neighbor. After several idiot children were born, it was found 
that the man had married his own sister. The calamity is one of many 
that has befallen because of lack of adequate records. 

The other roommate, Carrie, is 58 years old, and has been in the alms- 
house over fifty years. She is an idiot and cannot tell her story, but we can 
get some of it from the records. We find that in 1858 an aunt of Carrie came 
to the almshouse. She appears on the records as an idiot. In 1859 another 
aunt came. She is registered as simple. Both stayed in the almshouse until 
they died many years ago. Of Carrie's mother we know nothing except 
that she had two illegitimate children who were feeble-minded. Another 
one of Carrie's aunts appears on the records as "simple," but she did not 
stay at the almshouse all the time. Although she never married she was 
the mother of fifteen illegitimate children, returning to the almshouse to 
give birth to most of them. Seven of these children died in infancy, eight 
were definitely feeble-minded, three of the number being idiots. One of the 
daughters lived in a deserted cabin on the edge of a city. She was notori- 
ously loose morally. She died in the almshouse. Since 1858 there has been 
constantly at least one member of this family, and sometimes as many as 
five members in the almshouse. 

Passing to the next cottage, we find three generations of one family. 
Amanda is 81 years old, and has been in the almshouse for the last twelve 
years. She says she has never been to school, and adds with pride that 
she did not send any of her children either, that she has gotten along with- 
out an education and so they could. Two of her children were born dead; 
three died in infancy; one was a tramp, and is said to have been killed by 
a fellow tramp in a western State; and another was a "dope" fiend, and 
died in the almshouse. 

Amanda's only living child is Eva. Eva was put out to work in a 
family at the age of nine. At sixteen she married a man afflicted with 
tuberculosis. They had a hard time making a living, and while the hus- 
band was sick the two eldest children were given to the neighbors. After 
the father's death, the next two were given to a children's society. The 



48 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

youngest, Bennie, age five, is with Eva at present. He shows signs of men- 
tal and physical degeneracy, and has not walked for several months. Appa- 
rently without a pang, Eva tells of giving up her children. She does not 
hiind not knowing how to write, for she cannot see how it would have 
done her any good. Also, she says she thinks she has had a pretty good 
time for a poor woman, and likes it very much at the almshouse. She tests 
seven years mentally. 

In the negro department there is a woman who tests nine. She has 
been keeping a disorderly house. Since it was broken up she refuses to 
work. Another woman, 64 years old, is helpless from paralysis. A third 
has had both feet frozen off, and walks on her knees. Two more women, 
both past eighty, have good working records, but are in the almshouse 
because of extreme feebleness. There are three idiots, and an insane man 
awaiting guards from the hospital. 

The foregoing almshouses represent a rich and well populated section 
of the State. Let us see what the almshouses in other sections of the 
/State look like. Here is one in a less populous and poorer section. The 
buildings and land are valued at $16,000.00. The county appropriates an- 
nually about a thousand dollars for superintendent's salary and other ex- 
penses. Figuring the interest on the capital invested and adding it to this 
amount would make the total cost of maintenance for this institution nearly 
two thousand per annum. When we enter the almshouse we are surprised 
to learn that it contains only six inmates, and that all of them are feeble- 
minded. We wonder if they could not be cared for more economically in 
a central institution equipped to provide for the feeble-minded from every 
section of the State. Then we talk with the inmates. 

Susie M. is an imbecile. She has been an inmate since 1886. Her loud, 
impatient answers soon make you ready to agree with the keeper that sue 
is the "meanest thing on the place." Her story, extracted from her after 
much questioning and many rebuffs, runs as follows: She was born "the 
year war ended," but does not know how old that makes her. Her mother 
died when she was very small and she never heard anything concerning 
her father. The first thing she remembers clearly is going to school with 
the children of the persons who adopted her, and the fact that she could 
not learn. Later she gladly stayed at home to work in preference to going 
to school. When she was grown she left the home of her adoption and 
"lived around" a few years. At twenty-one she entered the almshouse and 
there gave birth to a child that died of syphilitic infection. There also 
she met two feeble-minded brothers, one of whom was epileptic. By each 
of these brothers she became the mother of a child. One child died of 
typhoid fever and the other was "bound out" and lost sight of. She seems 
tq have been lacking in natural feeling, for often she used to knock the 
small children about and stamp upon them in unreasoning rage. Susie has 
not walked for five years, but manages to push her chair about the room 
and helps with the cooking. 

Kate is epileptic, feeble-minded, syphilitic, nearly blind, and a hope- 
less cripple. She manages to walk around a little in spite of the fact that 
her body is so bent that she Can raise her head and shoulders only a little 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



49 



above the waistline. She has had "spells" from the time she can remem- 
ber, and it is to a fall during one of these spells that her crippled condition 
is attributed. No doctor was called to see her — nature was allowed to take 
its course. Kate cannot give her family history, but a portion of it was 
obtained from the superintendent. It seems that she entered the institu- 
tion in 1883, where she later gave birth to twins. Her step-mother whom 
she called "Aunt Sallie" was in the almshouse for years. She also was 
"simple" and had the palsy. A nephew of Kate and his half-brother (a mu- 
latto) have also been inmates. 




THE MOTHER OF TWO FEEBLE-MINDED 
CHILDREN BORN IN AN ALMSHOUSE. 



Lucy Ann first made her appearance at the almshouse in 1884, and has 
come and gone half dozen times since. This time she has been an inmate 
six years, and is now helpless and "flighty." She and her sister used to 
indulge in drunken revels, and it was to recuperate from them that Lucy 
Ann frequented the institution. Lucy Ann cannot give any connected idea 
of her family history, and again the superintendent comes to our assist- 
ance. The woman has had no children. A sister of hers entered in 1888, 
but soon ran off with one of the oldest paupers and married him. In a 
year they were again admitted, and the man stayed until death claimed 
him, but the woman left and since then has managed to subsist on out- 
door relief and by dint of much begging. She is regarded as decidedly 
feeble-minded. These women have a brother who gets out-door relief. 



50 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

In the negro division we find Belle, a miscrocephalic idiot, age 12 years, 
who entered two years ago when her mother died. She is an illegitimate 
child. A former employer of her mother reports that the family possesses 
no marked defects. The neighbors attribute the child's misfortune to the 
fact that it was "conjured." 

Lou, an imbecile who has spent a good portion of her life in the alms- 
house, came in 1889 with one illegitimate child, and soon afterwards gave 
birth to another. After years of training she has learned to do washing, 
and can carry meals to the helpless ones, so she is very useful. About her 
relatives she can tell nothing. 

John has never walked nor talked, and has to be fed. Beyond the 
fact that he entered in 1889, and his father was known to be alcoholic, 
nothing is known of his history. 

At another almshouse in a different section of the State, we find only 
four persons: an idiot who is also epileptic and has been in the institution 
twenty years, a paralytic who appears to be a low grade moron, and two 
old negro women, apparently normal. We find that after taking into con- 
sideration the interest on capital invested, superintendent's salary, and 
other expenses, the county is spending approximately $1,600.00 per annum 
for the maintenance of four persons. 

We have now seen the inmates of five almshouses. They are typical 
of the twenty-eight other institutions which we have given special study, 
and the thirty-three are representative, we believe, of Virginia almshouses 
as a whole. In thirty-three almshouses we have found a total populaton of 
801, or an average population of 24.3 persons, 653 of whom are apparently 
feeble-minded. Of this number 253 are so decidedly feeble-minded that 
any one would recognize them as such, and the others are found on closer 
examination and inquiry into their family history and social reactions to 
be feeble-minded also. 

One of the saddest phases of the situation is the number of children 
found in the almshouses — one hundred and thirty-two. Bugenists and 
euthenists are about agreed that heredity and environment play equal parts 
as determining factors in a child's life; and if approximately fifty per cent, 
of a child's future depends upon his environment, certainly the almshouse 
is not a fit place in which to raise children. Children are very impression- 
able; they learn by suggestion and imitation; they react quicker and have 
fewer inhibitions than adults. Their surroundings in the almshouse are 
such as to warp and twist their little lives so that they can never be 
straightened out again. Born amid the garbage and junk heaps of human- 
ity, and reared in an atmosphere of failure, what can be expected of the 
almshouse child? Family life is to him a sealed book, school instruction 
often a myth; the natural avenues to normal living are closed; the joys 
of childhood are not his; disgrace is his heritage and failure his portion; 
from nothing he comes and into nothingness he sinks again. This is the 
fate of the normal child; what of the feeble-minded? His fate is trebly 
worse. 

Already children's agencies are at work trying to place the normal chil- 
dren of the almshouse in good homes. Eventually the situation will be re- 
lieved. But the feeble-minded child will not respond to anything save spe- 
cial care and training — care and training such as he will not get in the 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



51 



average home or institution. The only thing we can do with the high grade 
feeble-minded children is to try them in home after home until they either 
stick, or disappear. The low-grade feeble-minded we have to leave in the 
almshouse to grow up there where they receive no special training, and 
when they are grown they go out and live upon the community as para- 
sites, burdens to the present, and menaces to the future. 

We have visited the almshouse; we have seen feeble-minded women 
who have given birth to feeble-minded children in the almshouse and left 
them to burden the taxpayers; we have seen that generation after genera- 
tion of the same family live and propagate their kind at the expense of 
the community; we have seen people who have never known any home but 
the almshouse and look to the taxpayer for support as their natural right; 
we have seen worn-out prostitutes and broken-down criminals seek the 
shelter of the almshouse in old age to burden the taxpayer for the rest 
of their lives; we have seen little children herding with the harlot, the 
thief, the drunkard, the epileptic, the idiot, the imbecile, the vagabond and 
all manner of diseased folk. Now that we have seen all of this, what are 
we going to do about it? 

As we have already said, fully eighty per cent, of the almshouse popu- 
lation is feeble-minded. In verification of this, note the reactions of fifty 
inmates taken at random from five almshouses and tested with the Binet- 
Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence. Note that 42 out of 50 reacted 
as feeble-minded, or 84 per cent, feeble-minded. As a further indication of 
their mental incapacity, you will observe that 62 per cent, were totally illit- 
erate, 34 per cent, had received the barest of training, and only 4 per cent, 
had advanced as far as the average nine year-old child. 

Reactions to the Binet Measuring Scale for Intelligence in Five Almshouses 



Mental age 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


Normal 


Total 


Chronological Age 
Under 21 


1 


"l 


2 


2 

1 
1 


"d 

2 


"i" 

i 
i 

"2 


4 

2 

"2 

, 2 


1 
2 
2 
4 
2 




10 


21 to 30 


2 


12 


31 to 40 


6 


41 to 50 








2 


7 


51 to 60 










2 


6 


61 to 70 






1 




2 
2 

8 


7 


71 to 80 


2 


Total 


1 


1 


3 


4 


7 


5 


10 


11 


50 



84% feeble-minded. 



62% No schooling. 
34% Primary. 
4% Grammar. 



Mental Age 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


Normal 


Total 


No schooling 


1 


1 


3 


3 

1 


7 


5 


5 

5 


6 
5 




31 


Primary 


6 
2 

8 


17 


Grammar 








2 


Total 


1 


1 


3 


4 


7 


5 


10 


11 


50 



62 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

School Training 

The reactions of the Binet test, together with the personal and economic 
history and heredity of these persons, demonstrate beyond the shadow of 
a doubt their mental condition. And this group is but a fair sample of our 
almshouse inmates taken at random. Grant this, and the logical conclusion 
is that fully 80 per cent, of our almshouse inmates are feeble-minded. 

The almshouse is not a suitable place for feeble-minded people. It is 
not equipped to give the necessary training and it does not provide adequate 
care. Its inmates are allowed to leave at will; the feeble-minded wander 
over the county; they beg, borrow, steal and practice sexual immorality; 
they get rid of temptations only by yielding to them; and they are con- 
stantly a burden and a menace to the community in which they tarry. 
Nearly all feeble-minded female inmates become mothers, thereby multiply- 
ing themselves sometimes manifold. 

The wife of one of our superintendents sized up the situation as fol- 
lows : 

"That home you are getting for the feeble-minded women is the best 
thing you ever did. And if you keep on with the work, you will put all 
of us almshouse-keepers out of business." 

At present we have $1,141,210.00 tied up in almshouse real estate. Last 
year the cost of maintenance was $212,650.39; superintendents' salaries 
$29,452.00; value of crops made and consumed $59,163.97; and interest on 
the real estate at six per cent, amounts to $68,472.60; making the total cost 
of maintenance $369,738.96. Counting each admission, the total population 
for the past year was 5,151. Now, as many of the inmates were transients, 
here today and gone tomorrow, persons who came and went at will, and 
as the number of inmates at the end of the year totaled less than 2,000, it 
will be safe to assume that there were 60 per cent, or over of repeaters, and 
that 2,000 would represent the mean between the floating and stable popu- 
lation for one year. Granting this, the cost per capita per annum would 
figure $184.86. In an institution for the feeble-minded many of these per- 
sons can be made self-supporting, and all of the children, except idiots, now 
living in almshouses could be properly trained to earn their own support. 

Now, if 80 per cent, of these people are feeble-minded, and if that 
means that 1,600 of them will be taken from the almshouses and placed in 
colonies for the feeble-minded, that would leave a balance of only 400 per- 
sons scattered throughout the State in the county institutions, and that 
means that over a million dollars would be tied up in real estate, which 
means that the cost of maintenance in separate institutions would be too 
great to retain the present system. 

Although some counties seem to have solved the problem of pauperism 
without the expense attendant upon the maintenane of almshouses, the 
solution is far from being a perfect one. In one county where there is no 
almshouse, the poor are auctioned off .to the lowest bidder, and by this means 
placed on a farm at moderate cost. Here the objectionable features are 
self-evident. Eight other counties have almshouses, but either have no 
paupers to inhabit them, or when they do have paupers, cause them to be 
provided for by the overseers of the poor from the county pension fund. 




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Mental Defectives in Virginia 53 



In addition to the county where the poor are auctioned off, four other coun- 
ties and eight of our smaller cities have also dispensed with almshouses, 
the poor being cared for by organized charities or out-door relief. In none 
of these counties are the feeble-minded adequately provided for. 

Out-Door Relief. 

We have especially investigated seventy-one cases taken at random of 
persons provided for by out-door relief in the country ; out of this number 
hardly more than twenty should be receiving aid in this way. There are 
eleven feeble-minded adults and some feeble-minded children who should be 
cared for, not from the county, but by being placed in an institution 
where they can be segregated to prevent further damage, and where they 
can be made to earn their own support. We have seen six cases which we 
class as doubtful, for although these persons own property, they are not 
capable of doing much work, and we haven't been able to locate near rela- 
tives in position to assist them. But do not forget that out of seventy-one 
cases investigated, we have found thirty persons receiving aid when there 
is apparently no good reason for it, and the majority of those who were 
entitled to aid are feeble-minded. 

The overseers of the poor receive only twenty dollars a year for their 
services. Such an office carrying so small an emolument would be likely 
to attract only two classes of persons, philanthropists, or persons who need 
the money to make ends meet. A philanthropist, if he were able, would 
take the time to investigate each case brought to his notice; these others 
haven't time to do case work. 

Judging from the result of our investigation, there are a few philan- 
thropists, and a large number of persons who need twenty dollars a year 
to make ends meet. Many of these are good men who wish to do justice 
to the county and also to the applicant for relief. But they are usually 
busy men and cannot always spare the time to look into a case, so they take 
a neighbor's word for it. 

Let us say that the case of Sam F. typifies others among the benefi- 
ciaries of out-door relief. Weary of the squirrel cage of ceaseless work, 
secure in the knowledge that if he does not shift for himself the neighbors 
and out-door relief authorities will shift for him, he leaves his wife and 
small children. So another name is added to the county pension list, the 
church takes up a special collection to pay the rent, and the neighbors send 
in baskets of food and clothing; and the family is better cared for than 
when the bread-winner was at work, but the method of providing for the 
wife and children has pauperized the family. 

One of the darkest phases of the matter, however, is the fact that ap- 
parently the church, individual charity, and the county are encouraging 
feeble-minded women to live at large and propagate their kind. Take the 
case of Lucy G. Lucy is one of a large family of folks known to be "sim- 
ple" and "peculiar" persons who can't seem to make ends meet and always 
need assistance. Lucy does farm work for a while, then discovers that she 
can get along without working. By and by a baby comes. Then the church, 
philanthropic neighbors, the secret societies, and the overseer of the poor 



54 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

get to work. Lucy is very repentant and promises to do better in the 
future. She is tided over her illness, but her name remains on the 
list. Another year comes and with it a second baby to be looked after. 
More charity. Then a third, fourth and fifth child arrives. Lucy's parents 
have been helped for years; now Lucy and her children; and by and by 
Lucy's daughters are found to be following in her footsteps and soon there 
are more feeble-minded children for the community to look after. And 
these children in turn follow the trail blazed by some degenerate ancestor 
and worn smooth by numerous feeble-minded descendants. Meanwhile the 
taxpayer pays the price in one way or another. 

The overseer of the poor should either in person or by a capable repre- 
sentative investigate each case for relief brought to his notice. He should 
get a written statement of the applicant's financial condition, whether he 
owns property, etc., and just why he needs relief, and how long he will re- 
quire to be assisted. This can be verified by the neighborhood physician, 
the minister, and the district magistrate without material inconvenience. 
The overseer should attempt to make applicants self-supporting by securing 
employment for them, and to rehabilitate families if normal. 

All cases of feeble-minded persons who are applicants for relief should 
be reported to the proper authorities, registered by them, and segregated 
in a colony for the feeble-minded or placed in families under adequate su- 
pervision where they will be induced to work for their living. But no one 
except a wealthy person can afford to do this work for $20.00 per annum. 

Organized Charities. 

We have seen how legal and volunteer out-door relief, the county pen- 
sion official, the citizen, and the church, work together in aiding indigent 
persons of rural communities, and now we come to that branch of charity 
which is peculiar to the city. In the city it is even more difficult than in 
the country to learn the actual needs of those who beg, and the number of 
applicants for relief is much larger; so to meet this situation charity clear- 
ing-houses have been organized, and these we ca 11 Associated Charities, which 
act as clearing-houses for organized charities composed of church societies 
and other philanthropic organizations; and the tendency is to shift upon 
Associated Charities the burden of testing and providing for the needs of 
applicants. Supported by private and public contributions, and equipped 
with competent workers, organized charities act as mediums of exchange 
by which persons in need can be intelligently helped by those who have 
money or its equivalent to give. Thus, although the principle of aid is in 
a measure similar to that employed in rural communities, it is upon a larger 
scale and with the difference that organized charities not only relieve the 
immediate physical wants of the distressed, but seek also to reform indi- 
viduals and rehabilitate families. 

Let us see how this work of reform and rehabilitation progresses when 
organized charities come in contact with feeble-minded individuals and fami- 
lies. We know that they do good work in cases of normal individuals and 
families in temporary distress, but let us see how the feeble-minded react 
to their methods. Looking over the records and reports of organized chari- 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



55 



ties and reviewing briefly their methods, we find that very often secondary 
causes such as drunkenness, shiftlessness, indolence, ignorance, lack of 
training, improvidence, etc., have been assigned, whereas, if the truth were 
known, these are but symptoms of mental degeneracy, and this, the primary 
cause, has apparently been ignored. 

Such is the case of the Y. family, four generations of which have been 
supported by organized charities. To begin with, a feeble-minded, alcoholic 
man married a woman whose mentality is unknown. To them were born 
six children. Month after month and year after year organized charities 
contributed to the support of this family; came to the aid of the mother 
when she was confined; assisted the father to find employment (which, how- 
ever, he failed to hold) ; supported the family in times of unemployment; 
cared for it at all seasons; exercised its utmost powers to rehabilitate the 
family, and to reform the alcoholic and shiftless father, and to aid and 
direct the children and children's children. Three of the six children 
died in infancy, the other three were feeble-minded. One of the girls was 
a prostitute, and as a result of an illegal union gave birth to a diseased 
child which soon died. The other girl married a man of unknown men- 
tality and to them were born two feeble-minded children. One child, a son, 
is now being supported by the taxpayer in an institution, and the other, a 
daughter, is married and has a little feeble-minded girl. All of these per- 
sons were brought under the influence of organized charities. Organized 
charities spent money; organized charities attempted to rehabilitate and 
reform; organized charities failed. "Why? The only place that the feeble- 
minded can be successfuly handled is a colony for the feeble-minded. 



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Sx 



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CHART 93. 




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56 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



FOUR GENERATIONS CONSTANTLY HELPED BY ORGANIZED 

CHARITIES. 

James Z., a feeble-minded epileptic, came from the country to one of 
our Virginia cities. He secured a job as day laborer. He married a good- 
looking feeble-minded girl; they raised a family. James had fits. As a 
consequence his various employers used to lay him off. He would be out 
of work for months. His family had to live, and he soon learned that if 
he did not support them, organized charities would. Sometimes James got 
drunk, and occasionally he would beat his wife. Neighbors said that she 
was unfaithful, and as they had a good many neighbors, being forced by 
irate landlords to move often for failure to pay rent, it was finally decided 
that the neighbors were right. 



if > 

1H 


■ 



SEVEN PERSONS WERE FOUND LIVING IN THIS HUT— 2 MEN, 1 
WOMAN AND 4 CHILDREN OCCUPIED THE SAME BED. 

And so they lived from pillar to post; when his wife was to be con- 
fined, the Instructive Visiting Nurses' Association sent a nurse,, and clothes 
for the baby after it came into the world; a society of the Catholic Church 
sent provisions; the Salvation Army supplied fuel; and the Associated 
Charities, in return for slight services rendered by James, sent baskets 
of groceries. James found that things were coming his way without work- 
ing, so he did not hurry about getting another job. Besides, he usually 
felt badly, and often had fits, and employers did not seem to desire men 
so afflicted. After being supported for some months in his unemployment, 
a job was secured for him. But he didn't stick. Soon the Instructive Vis- 
iting Nurses' Association had to send another nurse and more clothes for 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 57 

a new baby, and once more the Church society and the Salvation Army 
and Associated Charities and kindred organizations came to the aid of the 
distressed ones. After the new baby had been ushered into the world and 
the family seemed to be getting along fairly well, James got another job, 
but he soon developed pains in his head and back, and after doctoring him- 
self with whiskey without effecting a cure, the job slipped from under him. 
When the collector came around the rent money could seldom be found, 
and so James and his wife and their growing family of children moved 
■about in the squalid sections of the city, constantly seeking aid of one or 
the other of a dozen charitable organizations. 

Recently they were found in an old stable down near the water's edge 
in a state of extreme destitution. It seems that a stable helper had taken 
pity on the family and was now sharing his bed and board with them. James, 
his wife, the kindly stable man, and four children lived in the same room. 
There was a bed constructed of rough planks covered with old grain sacks. 
A dry goods box was used as a table, and tin cans served as cooking and 
eating utensils. The parents and children were in rags. When visited by 
a social worker they were all huddled up together on the bed. The stable- 
man came in while the worker was there, but refused to answer questions, 
and soon left. 

Once more organized charities got to work. The woman and children 
were taken into custody, the children as dependents, and the woman as a 
sort of caretaker. Employment was found for the man, and in a few weeks 
the family was established in rooms in a good neighborhood. While in the 
custody of the Juvenile Court several members of the family were subjected 
to the Binet test. The man proved to be 9 years mentally, the woman 10 
years, the eldest child, a girl who was really nine, tested about 7 men- 
tally, and the next child, age seven, tested four. The two younger children, 
aged three years, and ten months, respectively, were not tested. 

For about two months the family held together, being supervised and 
assisted by organized charities. But it appears that the woman had lovers 
and her husband persisted in getting drunk and having fits or "sick spells." 
One night he came home drunk, accused his wife of infidelity, and beat her. 
He was arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to jail. This terminated his 
employment, and once more the family had to be supported by charity. 
This time, however, some thought was given to the case. A commission 
was held, the woman declared feeble-minded, and sent to the colony for the 
feeble-minded, and disposition was made of the children, one being placed 
in a private home, and the other three in institutions. This is the history 
of a feeble-minded family which for ten years has been supported by or- 
ganized and other charities. The most dangerous member of the family is 
in a suitable institution, but it seems a pity that the man, who is lower 
grade mentally than his wife, though not so much of a menace, cannot be 
segregated instead of being allowed to run at large. A larger and more 
adequate colony would remedy this. But even now he could be committed 
as an epileptic. 

Mabel W.'s parents are shiftless, degenerates who have been living for 
years at the expense of organized charities in Virginia and other States. 



58 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

Mabel is about twenty-four, and is the mother of three illegitimate children. 
She is apparently a middle-grade moron, and is very attractive physically. 
From confinement to confinement she has received aid from various chari- 
ties; in the meantime working as shop-girl and occasional prostitute. She 
will doubtless continue to propagate her kind unless segregated. Reform 
methods have been unsuccessful in her case. Organized charities have tried 
and failed; the colony for the feeble-minded should be the next step. 

The point in these stories is that while our charitable agencies are doing 
invaluable work in aiding deserving cases of destitute persons who are nor-, 
mal, ordinary charitable agencies cannot handle with success the feeble- 
minded, and until the State makes adequate provision for this class of de- 
fectives, organized charities and others will have to continue to care for 
them at considerable expense and without reforming or rehabilitating them; 
that aid is apt to be misapplied and used by recipients to further their pas- 
sions, and to bring into the world more of their defective kind; and that 
organized charities and other agencies will always meet with failure in 
dealing with the feeble-minded, until the State recognizes the menace, and 
co-operates to stamp out the evil. 

Suw,mary. 

We began with a visit to the almshouses; we have seen the conditions 
in these institutions; we have shown pictures of out-door relief; of how the 
feeble-minded react to organized charities and other agencies. From these 
facts it is plain — 

(1) Feeble-mindedness is responsible for at least 80 per cent, of our 
almshouse population. 

(2) That our almshouses are not suitable institutions for the feeble- 
minded. 

(3) That a large number of persons receiving volunteer and public out- 
door relief are feeble-minded, or are burdened with feeble-minded relatives, 
and that indiscriminate charity encourages such persons to live at large 
and propagate their kind. 

(4) That relief often encourages recipients to live in vice, immorality, 
and indolence, and pauperizes those who might otherwise be forced to earn 
their own support. 

(5) That out-door relief authorities and organized charities are not 
equipped to handle the feeble-minded, and that whenever and wherever 
found, the feeble-minded should be recognized as such and segregated where 
they will not be able to menace the public welfare and increase the tax- 
payer's burden. 



Chapter VII. 



The Relation of Feeble-mindedness to Juvenile Delinquency 

A study of criminal statistics reveals that adolescence is the age when 
most first commitments occur, and that juvenile delinquents seem to be 
everywhere increasing, and crime more and more precocious. The justice 
of holding children equally responsible with adults has been seriously ques- 
tioned, and the success of the juvenile court has given rise to a widespread 
recognition that children should not be dealt with on the same basis as 
adults. An increasing interest in child psychology and its potentialities 
leads to the conclusion that all children should not be held responsible in 
the same degree. This conclusion is based principally on evidence collected 
throughout the United States and Great Britain to show that many girls 
and boys in institutions for juvenile delinquents are mentally defective, 
and that methods ordinarily applied to normal children are both expensive 
in time and money, and unavailing in results when practiced on the feeble- 
minded. 

The purpose of this study is to show (1) the extent of feeble-minded- 
ness among the juvenile delinquents of Virginia, (2) what is being done 
for them and with what results, and (3) what should be done. With this 
in mind two hundred and ninety children were taken at random and exam- 
ined with the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence in the juvenile 
detention homes and the industrial schools. In addition to the psychologi- 
cal test, other tests as to family history, personal history, social history 
and acquirements, moral reactions and personal knowledge, were applied. 
In many cases the homes were visited and parents interviewed. Appended 
to this article will be found the history of a few typical cases. 

The Extent of Feeble-Mindedness. 

Out of two hundred and ninety children tested in the Juvenile Deten- 
tion Homes, and at the Industrial Schools, one hundred and ninety-seven, 
or 68 per cent, reacted as feeble-minded. 

The children ranged in age from eight to nineteen years, their offenses 
from incorrigibility and vagrancy, drunkenness and disorderly conduct, to 
house-breaking and murder. Some had been in court as many as seven 
times in two years. They were not from the homes of the rich — these chil- 
dren. No, they were from homes in which the total income averaged less 
than thirty dollars a month, and in many cases this amount would seem 
a small fortune. They were not only from homes poor in a financial sense, 
but many were from homes poor in every sense — they were homes of pov- 
tory of the mentally defectives tested in the reform schools and you will 
drunkenness and depravity of one or both parents, and oftentimes the iron 
hand of an unsympathetic step-parent, had deprived the children of nearly 
everything that goes to make a home homelike and life bearable. 



60 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

In the detention homes, out of fifty-five negro children examined, forty- 
six, or 84 per cent, reacted as feeble-minded; twenty-five white children out 
of forty-five, or 55.5 per cent., were found to be apparently feeble-minded. 
These children were examined as they entered the homes — taken at random. 

At the Laurel Industrial School, out of a population of 235, one hundred 
boys ranging in age from eleven to nineteen years were examined with the 
Binet test. Fifty-seven were found to be feeble-minded, and in addition, 
eleven tested one to three years backward. Ninety boys out of a population 
of 169 were tested at Hanover (the Negro Industrial School) and sixty- 
nine, or 77 per cent., reacted as feeble-minded. Seven more tested one to 
three years backward. 

What is Being Done for Them, and With What Result 

A group of one hundred backward children tested in the detention 
homes had in their brief careers been charged with 179 offenses, forty-six 
being repeaters and responsible for 70 per cent, of the offenses. At the 
time of examination they were waiting to be tried and disposition was 
made as follows: 

Committed, to 

State Board of Charities and Corrections 56 

Industrial Schools ■ 15 

Juvenile Protective Society 5 

Colony for the Feeble-minded 1 

Epileptic Colony 1 

Children's Home Society of Virginia 1 

Other Institutions 2 

Dismissed 8 

Fined 2 

Whipped by parents 2 

Returned to relatives 2 

Probationed 5 

100 

Following up these cases, we find that of the 56 children committed to 
the State Board of Charities and Corrections, a new disposition was made 
as follows: 

Committed to 

Children's Home Society of Virginia 3 

Jewish Institute 1 

Mountain School 1 

Industrial Schools 4 

Placed in private homes 47 

56 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 61 



The three children committed by the State Board of Charities and Cor- 
rections to the Children's Home Society were placed in private homes. One 
is doing well, one has run away, and the third has been tried in two homes 
without success. The two latter children reacted to the Binet scale as 
feeble-minded. No complaint has been received in regard to the children 
placed in institutions. Of the forty-seven children placed in homes, 12 are 
doing well, 2 fairly well, 7 have not been reported on and 28 have given 
trouble in one way or the other; one feeble-minded child has been tried in 
six homes without success. In other words the children who fail to make 
good in family homes under supervision are the feeble-minded children. 
These 28 children all tested feeble-minded by the Binet scale and later by 
their reactions to normal living conditions have confirmed the findings of 
the psychological test and demonstrated that methods ordinarily applied to 
normal children with success, often meet with failure when tried on the 
feeble-minded anti-social child. These are the children from whom the 
criminals of the next generation come. Segregate and train them to be 
self-supporting and the delinquent population of coming generations will 
be proportionately decreased. 

What Should Be Done. 

An inquiry into the school history of juvenile delinquents reveals what 
one might expect, i. e., in the school mental backwardness first manifests 
itself outside the home circle, and there it should be taken in hand. The 
fourth grade is the great falling-off place for the majority of them. 

There are three institutions in which the feeble-minded can be detected 
early in life: the school, the juvenile court, and the reformatory. The 
school presents the best opportunity, for there they can be treated and 
trained before the initial experience in delinquency, and often it is there 
that the first symptoms manifest themselves. In the juvenile court, and 
it may be after a career of crime, the defective delinquent can be recognized 
and dealt with according to his mentality. But when he reaches the re- 
formatory, it may be already at the expense of the happiness of friends and 
relatives, and perhaps a drain on the community purse. Examine the his- 
tory of the mentally defectives tested in the reform schools and you will 
find that the public school has failed, probation has failed, placing in 
private homes has failed, and that as a last resort they are sent to the 
reformatory — and that in too many cases will fail. Why? Simply because 
they are mental defectives and will not respond to the treatment given 
normal persons. 

To detect the feeble-minded at the starting of the roads, all children in 
the schools suspected of being backward, and all children convicted in the 
juvenile courts should be given a psychological test, and their family his- 
tories, social and moral reactions noted. They should then be dealt with 
according to their mental responsibility. Both in the public schools and 
in the reformatories, classes for backward children should be organized, and 
when it has been proven conclusively that a child is feeble-minded, he 
should be reported to the proper authorities. (See appendix.) 



62 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

After the Reformatory, What? 

Too great emphasis cannot be placed upon the organization of classes 
for backward children in the juvenile reformatories. The question in regard 
to reformatory inmates is: After the reformatory, what? What is to be 
their fate? The critical time is when a boy or girl leaves the institution to 
begin life in the world. He has gotten accustomed to the routine of insti- 
tution life. The discipline has shaped in his mind certain habits which he 
automatically obeys. It will be hard for even the normal boy to readjust 
himself to the world as he finds it. He may enter the same old environ- 
ment, or there may be no home to which he can return; he may find that 
most of his friends, or all of them, have moved away. He must take things 
as he finds them, make new ties, and whatever environment he enters and 
whatever ties he forms will be determining forces in his life. Even if he 
is a normal boy he will have a difficult time reinstating himself in society. 
If he is feeble-minded, he will inevitably drift back to the channels which 
brought him to the reformatory — for the feeble-minded are drifters all — 
he will again make the acquaintance of the courts; he will go to jail to 
take lessons in crime in that public school for criminals which the State 
so unwittingly maintains; and after the jail, perhaps to the penitentiary. 
Or, after a career which has proven costly to the community; after he has 
been sent to jail, on various charges ranging from "miscellaneous worth- 
lessness" and drunkenness, begging and vagrancy, to petty larceny and 
kindred offenses, he will in his old age wind up in the city or county alms- 
house to be supported there for the balance of his worthless life. All his 
life he will have been a burden and a drag on the community. And if he 
has tried to raise a family that family will, in turn, be supported by the 
community, and will live on through the generations to breed other feeble- 
minded and criminalistic persons. 

Summary. 

To summarize, the fact that 68 per cent, of the children passing through 
the Detention Homes and in the Industrial Schools are feeble-minded em- 
phasizes the need of specific action with regard to them. The feeble-minded 
should be detected in childhood. The first place to detect them is in the 
schools; next in the juvenile courts, and then in the reformatories. Each 
child suspected of being feeble-minded or backward, should be given the 
Binet test and his family history and social and moral reactions noted, and 
he should be dealt with according to his mental responsibility. At the ju- 
venile reformatories classes for backward children should be established. 
We should ascertain which are feeble-minded, and when a feeble-minded boy 
leaves the reformatory he should leave it only to go where he will receive 
custodial care, either in an institution or in a private home, where he will 
be recognized for what he is, and treated accordingly — where he will be 
made to earn his own support and will not be allowed to propagate his kind. 

Some Typical Cases. 
Marie. Age 13. Mental age 7. 

Marie, a short, stout girl with a dull, uninteresting countenance, when 
tested did not know her age nor the name of the place she came from. She 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 63 

seemed very apathetic and answered in monosyllables. Physically she ap- 
peared to be about fourteen, although she tests half that age. Placed out 
in six homes she failed to make good, although in all she was well treated, 
and in one home she had exceptional care under a lady especially fitted to 
train such cases. Not only was she densely stupid, but likewise immoral. 
Persisting in her immorality she was given up as hopeless, and returned 
to the court. Finally she was sent to the reform school. It is to be hoped 
that by the time she is ready to leave the school the colony for the feeble- 
minded will be ready to receive her. Otherwise, Marie will be but another 
recruit for the underworld. 

John. Age 15. Mental age 8. 

John could not learn anything at school and would not work. He was 
a congenital loafer. He was convicted of vagrancy and committed to the 
State Board of Charities and Corrections. A good home in the country was 
found for him, but he either could not or would not — anyway, he did not, 
appreciate it, and soon ran away. Twice he was recaptured and placed in 
suitable homes, but, preferring the company of tramps to a civilized exist- 
ence, each time he escaped and joined his friends. The third time he was 
more successful in hiding, and is now very probably a regular in the army 
of "bums." Eventually he will reappear in some arc of the vicious circle— 
the jail, the penitentiary, or the almshouse. 

Tom. Age 17. Mental age 10. 

Tom is the unfortunate son of an alcoholic father and a mother of ques- 
tionable reputation. The boy stammers and is very nervous. Twice he 
has been convicted of petit larceny, but allowing for heredity and environ- 
ment he was each time given another chance. During the past five months 
he has been tried in four homes, but seems unable to adapt himself to the 
change of environment. His future is problematical. Unless he can be seg- 
regated and trained he will probably be a drifter for the rest of his "days. 
And the drifter is one of the taxpayer's many burdens. 

Bud. Age 15. Mental age 9. 

Bud is a chronic trouble-maker. He has been in the juvenile court five 
times, three times for fighting and twice for larceny. On probation he re- 
ported regularly for a while, but stopped when it suited his convenience, 
and did not show up again until brought in by an officer for fighting. After 
probation had been tried several times without marked success, he was 
committed to the State Board of Charities and Corrections. He was placed 
in a private home in the country where there was plenty of good food and 
enough work to keep him out of mischief. Accustomed to having his own 
way when at home, he resented the discipline of farm life, and rebelled. A 
few weeks later he was found back at home. Three times after this he was 
placed in good homes, but failed to respond to the demands of normal life, 
and each time ran away after a short while. Later he was arrested in the 
city for stealing a watch, was tried, convicted, and as a last resort, was 
sent to the reformatory. 



64 State Board of C harities and Corrections 

Myrtle. Age 15. Mental age 9. 

Myrtle seems to have been born without a chance. Her mother a pros- 
titute, she seems to have been foredoomed to follow in her footsteps. Any- 
way at thirteen Myrtle was a street walker, and before she was fourteen 
had served four jail sentences for this offense. She was finally sent to the 
reform school. There she rebelled against the unaccustomed restraint, and 
tramped to the nearest city where she entered a house of ill-fame. Three 
days afterwards she was found and carried back to the school. When ques- 
tioned concerning her lapse of morality she seemed to be entirely un- 
ashamed; on the contrary, appeared to regard it as a matter of course, and 
not out of the normal way of living. After the reform school, what? 

Billy. Age 15. Mental age 8. 

Billy was brought into court on a blanket charge of being incorrigible. 
His parents claimed that he persisted in lying and stealing, and was abso- 
lutely beyond their control. He was tried on probation. That failed. He 
was placed in a good home. He ran away. He was finally sent to an in- 
dustrial school where he has given trouble. And the end is not yet. 

Clifton. Age 15. Mental age 10. 

Clifton was in court the first time for murder, but as there appeared to 
be lack of motive, a verdict of accidental killing was brought in. However, 
as the boy was found to be out of school and in bad company most of the 
time, he was placed on probation as a preventative and possible reforma- 
tive measure. He soon violated his probation and was brought into court 
the second time. His parents were simple persons of low mentality and 
claimed to be afraid of the boy. They wished him sent to the reformatory, 
but as the boy begged for another chance and promised to behave himself 
in future, he was placed in a private home in the country. His old habits 
claimed him after a short while, and back to the city he came. He was 
recaptured and brought into court, and upon his promise to do better, was 
given another trial in the country, but with the same result — when an op- 
opportunity presented itself he skipped out and returned to his old haunts. 
He was recaptured and carried to the detention home. He was sullen and 
made vague threats, but the keeper paid little, attention to them. Some- 
how the boy managed to secrete a revolver and awaiting his opportunity 
attempted to escape. The keeper blocked his path. Other prisoners ran 
out in the hall to see what was the trouble. The boy drew his revolver 
and fired at the keeper, but his aim was bad, and the bullet pierced the 
forehead of a girl prisoner who was in the line of fire, killing her instantly. 
The next five years Clifton will spend in the penitentiary. When he gets 
out he will still be as much, if not more, of a menace to the community than 
when he was committed. 

Other cases could be cited which show the futility of half measures in 
dealing with mental defectives, but in the main they only duplicate some 
of the stories given, and juvenile delinquency like adult criminality, moves 
in circles, and history repeats itself in the chronicles of feeble-mindedness 
as in other things. 



Chapter VIII. 



The Relation of Feeble-mindedness to Prostitution. 

As Shown by a Study of the Segregated District of a City in Virginia. 

All students of mental deficiency who have investigated to any great 
extent the causes of prostitution are of the opinion that feeble-mindedness 
is a principal factor in the supply. Investigations have been made from 
time to time in various parts of the United States with the idea of ascer- 
taining the relation of feeble-mindedness to prostitution, with varying re- 
sults. The Chicago Morals Court had 639 prostitutes examined, and found 
the proportion of feeble-minded to be 62%. At another time 126 prostitutes 
were examined by the same investigators, and the proportion reacting as 
feeble-minded was 85.8%. Of 104 sexually immoral girls, tested in the Illi- 
nois Training School for Girls, 97% reacted as feeble-minded. The Massa- 
chusetts vice commission examined 300 prostitutes in three groups of 100 
each: (1) young girls just beginning prostitution; (2) women plying their 
trade in the streets; and (3) women who were old offenders. The mental 
defect of 154 prostitutes, or 51%, was so pronounced as to warrant their 
legal commitment to custodial institutions for the feeble-minded. The re- 
port of this commission states that the women in this group came from 
shiftless, immoral, and degenerate families; they were industrially ineffi- 
cient, as shown by the low wages received, and by their inability to retain 
a position, even in unskilled callings, they were very deficient in judgment 
and good sense; they lacked ordinary general knowledge and practical in- 
formation, as well as ability to perform simple computations or to read or 
write, except in the most elementary way. 

A study of 243 women made by the Massachusetts Reformatory for 
Women showed 49% to be defective mentally, 16.5 % very dull, and 47 out 
of the remaining 84 cases showed other defects, such as epilepsy, hysteria 
and psychopathic tendencies. Only 15% of the entire number appeared nor- 
mal mentally and physically. In this group of cases were included all 
women in the institution in whose history there had been at any time a 
period of commercialized promiscuous sex immorality. 

The chief objection raised to the foregoing studies is that, except in the 
Massachusetts investigation, most of the women tested were in custody, 
which might seem to indicate that as mental weakness was responsible for 
their failure to make a living in legitimate callings, so also it had lessened 
their chances of keeping clear of the law, and this might suggest that the 
vast majority of those who escaped must of necessity be keener intellect- 
ually, and, therefore, groups examined in custody would not be typical of 
the army of prostitutes plying their trade at large. 

Such an objection "could not, however, be applied to conclusions based 
on an investigation of an entire district of prostitutes; hence this study, 
we feel, will throw a more practical light on the subject. 



66 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



Through the courtesy of the chief of police, the investigator, escorted 
by a police officer, visited the houses of the prostitutes, and later conducted 
examinations at police headquarters, where the women were summoned 
from time to time as required. The Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelli- 
gence was used, and in addition supplementary information was obtained 
as to personal knowledge, family and social history, school and economic 
history, etc.; all of which information was verified so far as possible by field 
workers in subsequent research. As 23 of the women were raised in the 
city studied and 35 others had their homes in neighboring Virginia cities 
and counties,) the social workers were able to do more field work than is 
usually possible in such investigations. In addition to this follow-up work, 
the secretary of the Board of Charities and Corrections was, through his 
position as member of the vice commission, enabled to study the district, 
and later, when it was closed, he, acting for the board, was instrumental 
in providing transportation to their homes for about one hnndred of the 
women, which gave him further opportunity for study. The supplementary 
information thus secured was not available at the time figures obtained in 
the preliminary survey were made public, but the tables given now in this 
study are presented only after a careful revision made in the light of the 
additional data referred to. 

The Correlation Between Chronological and Mental Ages of One Hundred 
and Twenty Prostitutes. 





CHRONOLOGICAL AGE 




Mental Agr 


Under 20 


20-30 


31-40 


41-50 


Total 


6 : 




1 
1 
9 

23 
19 
18 
27 

98 






1 


7 




2 
2 
1 
3 


i' 

1 

1 


3 


8 




12 


9 


1 

1 
2 


26 


10 


24 


11 


20 


Normal 


5 
13 


2 
5 


34 


Total 


4 


120 



Feeble-minded 71 . Q% 

Normal 28.4% 

Classification as to Imbeciles and Morons 

Imbeciles (7 years and under mentally) 4 

Morons (up to 12 years mentally) 82 



Total 86 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



67 



Classification as to Previous Occupation 



OCCUPATION 


Imbeciles Morons 


Normal 


Total 


Factory hand 


2 


37 
6 
5 
1 
3 


11 
4 

3 


60 


8ho p girl 


10 


Waitress 





6 


Housemaid 




4 




1 


4 




1 


1 


Scrub wornan 




2 
2 


1 


Farm hand 






2 


Stenographer 




2 
3 
1 
1 


2 






3 


Sewing woman 




1 


2 


Tailoress 




1 


Manicurist 




2 
1 

1 
1 
1 


2 


Trapeze performer 








Showgirl 








Cashier moving picture show 








Institution attendant 












1 




Millilner's assistant 


1 1 






1 
1 
4 

34 




Demonstrator 










24 
120 



School History. 

This information as originally tabulated was obtained from tbe women, 
and in attempting to verify it subsequently, the field workers found it to 
be so inaccurate that it is not presented here. As evidence of the large 
percentage of illiteracy among these women, however, when the district was 
closed and nearly a hundred of them applied at the office of the Board of 
•Charities and Corrections for transportation and aid, fully fifty per cent, 
were unable to write their names, and the majority of the others could 
barely read and write. 

Marital Relations. 

Of 29 women, 23 were married under the age of 21. Of 40 marriages, 
24 women lived with their husbands less than two years; 12 less than one 
year. With reference to those in houses of prostitution before and after 
marriage, 22 became prostitutes after marriage, and 11 were married from 
houses of prostitution. 

Of 100 women reporting, 14 children were born to unmarried women, 
and 46 children to married women. There were in this group 53 unmarried 
and 47 prostitutes who had been married. 



Reasons Assigned for Entering Life. 

Of 25 women giving reasons for entering life of prostitution, 10 assigned 
economic necessity; 5 "because I wanted to;" 2 ran off with a show; 4, bad 
companions; 2, betrayed and deserted; 1, husband went with other women; 
and 1, tired of working. The disregard for consequences, the inability to 
choose the right line of conduct, the lack of self-control and of foresight 
shown here, all are marked characteristics of the feeble-minded. 



68 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

The Girls That Went Wrong. 

Josie was born of a defective father and normal mother. Left an or- 
phan at an early age, it was in the school department of an institution for 
dependent children that she first manifested signs of feeble-mindedness. 
Tried out in many private homes, she failed to "make good," and was finally 
allowed to enter the home of a married sister, where she remained but a, 
short time. At a tobacco factory she secured work and soon drifted into 
fast company; as a consequence, she lost her good name and position and 
eventually entered the segregated district. 

Two sisters, Bettie and Dolly, are from a family of twelve, some feeble- 
minded and others doubtful cases. The father is regarded as "shiftless and 
simple;" the mother, feeble-minded. The two girls left school after reach- 
ing the fourth grade. The mother says, "Bettie and Dolly wanted finer 
clothes than we was able to give them, so they stopped school and went to- 
work." While working their maximum wage was $4.50 a week. Their in- 
dustrial history presents an old story of incompetency and irregularity, 
which is accounted for by the fact that the girls were meeting men each 
week. After a time they lost thir positions, and soon entered the red-light 
district. Their parents, when interviewed, seemed to view the girls' state 
with apathy. 

Sallie's father was shiftless, immoral, and a drunkard. He seems to 
have been unable to make a living and his children had to rely mainly on 
their mother and the neighbors for support. Upon the death of their 
mother, the children -were scattered about in homes and institutions. Sallie 
was sent to live with a relative in the city. There she attended school for 
a while, but she "wasn't bright and couldn't learn." She was allowed to 
stop school and go to work. After an unsuccessful marriage she became an 
occasional prostitute, and later entered a house of prostitution. 

Madge seems to be the product of generations of in-breeding of neuro- 
pathic strains. There is evidence of a large incidence of feeble-mindedness, 
insanity, "queerness," etc., with some criminality in her family for genera- 
tions back, and her parents, brothers and sisters appear to be decidedly 
feeble-minded. She was married at an early age and divorced by her hus- 
band because of gross immorality. She has lived in houses of prostitution 
in Raleigh. Norfolk and Richmond. In Richmond she was expelled from 
several houses for drunkenness and theft, and has been in jail a number 
of times. A thief, drunkard, prostitute, the mother of an illegitimate child, 
and the potential mother of others of her kind, she is a menace to the 
morals and health of any community in which she lives. 

In addition to these cases, twenty-five others were investigated and in 
every instance the investigator found evidence in the personal and family 
history of the girls which corroborated in the main the findings of the Binet 
scale. 

Summary. 

According to the Binet scale, 71.6% of prostitutes plying their trades in 
the segregated district of the city reacted as feeble-minded, and inquiries- 
into their family history substantiate the findings of the psychological test. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 69 

The logical concdlusion is that feeble-mindedness is esponsible in large de- 
cree for the waywardness of these women, and that they should not be 
punished for doing that which their heredity made almost sure; but society 
should segregate them where they will be protected from licentious men 
and lewd, avaricious women; where they cannot harm others and may, in 
a measure, redeem themselves. Place them in a colony and they can there 
earn their own support, put money into the State treasury instead of being 
a constant loss, directly or indirectly, both on the pocketbook of the tax- 
payer and the health and morals of the community; for not less than a 
million dollars is worse than thrown away in Virginia in prostitution every 
year, and the prostitute, wherever she may be, is a center for the spread 
of venereal disease. 



70 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



O 



O 



? 

d.Tb. 


Sx. 
d.Tb. 

A 


"iff 

Sx 


S*. 


Sx. 




e: 0H. 

Sx. 

Reil-Liijht 
District 


• ■ 

Paraiijiis 




e pi y>(^Coic«j 








CHART 54. 


• 





Q 



Moi-on 



Moron 



Marasmus 




Deserter 



1 



O^n^e *"* Orphanage 



T--D 

1 Sx. 



d. inf. 
Hare-lip 
litmus 



CHART 58. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



71 



O 



O 



-d 



a*. 

nf 






dw 



a 
oB 






OS 



O 



d 



Of 



a 



d 



o 



CO 



OS 



o: 



OS 4 „ 






Oc^ 1 



O, 



Chapter IX. 



The Relation of Feeble-mindedness to Crime and Drunken- 
ness and the cost thereof. 

As Shown by a Study of the Jail Population of a Virginia City. 

Jail prisoners are our greatest prison problem because they out- 
number any other class, and live in enforced idleness at a cost of 
nearly $400,000.00 per annum, while the taxpayer works to sup- 
port them. 

Commitments to jail in the State of Virginia for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 1914, aggregated 26,384. 

The maintenance, et cetera, of jail prisoners for the past year 
cost the taxpayers of Virginia $397,883.51. 

This expense is increasing yearly. 

The jail neither reforms prisoners, nor, as a rule, deters them 
from a repetition of delinquency; instead, it is a veritable public 
school of crime in which prisoners are learning vice, immorality, 
and crime, and are degenerating both physically and morally. 

Over 60 per cent, of the jail population is made up of feeble- 
minded and other permanently anti-social persons who practically 
live in jail most of the time, and will burden the taxpayer either 
in jails or other institutions with themselves and their families 
as long as they live. 

In a suitable institution jail prisoners could be made to earn 
their own support and thus an unnecessary burden would be lifted 
from the back of the taxpayer. 

On a State farm for defective delinquents and city farms for 
ordinary short time prisoners both classes can be made self- 
supporting. The proof is on Virginia soil. 

As a representative group of delinquents for a study of the relation of 
feeble-mindedness to crime and drunkenness and the cost thereof, the jail 
population of a certain Virginia city for a definite three years' period was 
chosen. It was decided that the most practicable manner in which to make 
this study was to take the card index records of individual prisoners on 
file in the office of the State Board of Charities and Corrections, made up 
from the city sergeant's reports, and sort out the "repeaters," or those 
prisoners who in three years' period were recorded as inmates of the City 
Jail from two to twenty-four times, and with these in hand proceed to — 

1. Get from the police court and hustings court records complete in- 
formation as to the crimes for which they were committed and the punish- 
ment meted out to them; 

2. Compute the cost to the city and State on account of loss of fines and 
expense of maintaining jail prisoners in idleness; 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 73 

3. Test as many as practicable by the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for 
Intelligence to determine the percentage of feeble-minded; 

4. Ascertain the personal and industrial history of typical cases; 

5. Draw then from the data collected such conclusions as would logi- 
cally- and naturally follow. 

It was with these steps in mind and with a full appreciation of the im- 
portance of getting sufficient and reliable data on which to base conclusions 
that the work was undertaken and completed. 

The Jail Population. 

The jail population of the city chosen, was, for the period of this study 
(October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913.) 8,371. Of this number 223 com- 
mitments were for insane persons confined in jail pending the arrival of 
guards from the State Hospitals. Subtracting this from the total would 
leave a net population of 8,148. Of this number 3,214 person's names ap- 
pear on the jail records only once during the three years' period. This 
period, however, is only a small slice cut out of the lives of these individ- 
uals, and a scrutiny of police court and jail records prior to and since the 
space of time in question, reveals the fact that approximately 50% of them 
are actually repeaters, but as we are dealing with a period only, for the 
purpose of this study they will be termed "one-timers." Of "one-timers" 
there were committed for 

Misdemeanor 2,993 or 93% 

Felony 221 or 7% 

Total 3,214 

Naming "repeaters" there were commitments amounting to 4,934, or 60% 
of the total population. 1,425 persons are named in the 4,934 commitments, 
making the average of commitments per person three and five-tenths. Of 
"repeaters" there were committed for 

Misdemeanor 4,734 or 96% 

Felony 200 or 4% 

Total 4,934 

Comparison of Arrests with Commitments. 

The chief of police's reports covering the period of this study show 
arrests as follows: 

White— Male 12,169 

Female 818 12,987 39% 



Negro— Male 16,210 

Female 4,106 20,316 61% 

Total 33,306 



74 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

Comparing this total with the total of commitments it will be noted that 
25% of persons arrested were committed to jail, and as against 39% whites 
and 61 per cent, negroes arrested, 30 per cent, whites and seventy per cent, 
negroes were committed to jail. On a basis of sex it is interesting to note 
that eighty-five per cent, males and 15 per cent, females were arrested, and 
eighty-two per cent, males and 18 per cent, females were committed to jail. 
(See tables 1 and 2.) 

Definition. — The word "crime" as used here is taken in its looser sense 
to imply "all acts punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both," and not 
necessarily meaning a felony. As the jail population, which is composed of 
ninety-five per cent, misdemeanants, is the subject of this study, naturally 
more attention is devoted to crime of the misdemeanor class, or petit crime. 
It will be noted (by referring to tables) that such crimes have been divided 
into three classes: I. Against the Person. II. Against Property, and III. 
Against Public Order. A felony being commonly regarded as a "peniten- 
tiary crime," although not always resulting in a penitentiary sentence, 
felonies are not divided into classes, but are shown collectively. 

One^Timers. — Note that Table I of delinquent men and women in jail 
one time during the period of October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913, is com- 
piled from the jail records studied. The law does not require the city ser- 
geant to keep a detailed record of offenses and this accounts for the paucity 
of information. 

Tables in repeaters' cases are based on information derived from both 
jail and court records, and are, therefore, more complete and accurate. 

Repeaters.' — Note that with the exception of Table 2 each table repre- 
sents as to times a certain definite class, e. g., Table 3 of two-timers con- 
tains none but those who have been committed two times and two only. 
Table 4 of three-timers contains none but those who have been committed 
three times and three only. Multiply the number of times by the number 
of persons in each table and you get the correct commitments. 

Class I. Crimes Against the Person. 

By referring to Tables 2 and 16, it will be noted that crimes against the 
person are responsible for only 9.3 per cent, of commitments in repeaters' 
cases. Analysis shows that Assault and Battery and Wife or Woman Beat- 
ing are most prominent in number, Contributory Delinquency and Indecent 
Assault being almost negligible; and that negroes were responsible for 
ninety per cent, of the crimes of this class. From the standpoint of sex, 
no white women were jailed for offenses of this class, and only 13.6 per cent, 
negro women. It will be noted that only one white man and two negro 
men were jailed for contributory delinquency, and that three negro men 
were responsible for the total number of indecent assaults. Tables 3 to 15, 
inclusive, show analysis of cases in further detail, and it might be inter- 
esting to note the fluctuations, for instance, how in Table 6, negroes out- 
number whites 34 to 1, in Table 7, negroes 20 to whites 4, in Table 8, whites 
disappear entirely, only to reappear in the next two tables, and again dis- 
appear in the following two tables. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 75 

Class II. Crimes Against Property. 

Crimes against property, as per Tables 2 and 16, show 12 per cent., and 
analyzing this class into its parts, one notes petit larceny 364, suspected 
of petit larceny 103, and trespass 126, Note that the responsibility for com- 
mitments in this class is divided as follows: White males 15.5 per cent., 
white females 00.17 per cent., negro males 70 per cent., negro females 14.33 
per cent.; total for whites 15.67 per cent., negroes 84.33 per cent. It will 
be noted that negroes were responsible for 87 per cent, of petit larcenies, 
and classifying them as to sex shows that to the males were due 91 per 
cent., negro females only 9 per cent., and that no white females in repeat- 
ers' cases were committed for petit larceny. 

"Suspected of petit larceny" is a term liable to criticism. In these cases 
the police court docket reads as it usually does in petit larceny cases, the 
difference in the punishment is that instead of being a flat jail sentence 
the suspect is required to furnish bond for good behavior, or go to jail. 
The background to these cases is such as to warrant strong suspicion of 
guilt, and even though the police justice is not convinced by the evidence 
that the prisoner is guilty, he may suspect him of being guilty and to pre- 
vent further suspicious actions on his part may in the interest of preventive 
justice demand surety, in default of which the prisoner is sent to jail. 

"Trespass" charges usually read "with intent to commit larceny." Note 
that 104 negroes and 22 whites were guilty of trespass. Trespass and lar- 
ceny, likewise, trespass and vagrancy, are closely related. 

Class III. Crimes Against Public Order. 

This is the largest class, constituting 73.4 per cent, of the whole. Analy- 
sis shows (as per Tables 2 and 16) white males 34 per cent., white females 
00.15 per cent., negro males 47 per cent, and negro females 18.85 per cent.; 
as to color only, whites 34.15 per cent., negroes 65.85 per cent.; as to sex, 
males 81 per cent., females 19 per cent. Two of the largest items in this 
class are drunkenness 1,618, and disorderly conduct 1,122. These two 
offenses are closely related; disorderly conduct, while it may be only a 
blanket charge for a multitude of minor offenses, masks probably 80 per 
cent, of cases of one-drink drunk, one-fourth drunk, one-half drunk, and 
so on, e. g., a man who takes enough drinks to make him quarrelsome and 
otherwise disorderly or to cause him to go home and break up the furniture, 
yet be able to walk without staggering. On the other hand, a case of drunk- 
enness, to be a finable offense under the city ordinance, is almost invari- 
ably, either in the police stations, or after the "cue" sheet is received in 
police court, entered on the docket as "drunk and disorderly." "Drunks" 
are divided into two classes, the "disorderly" and the "peaceable" drunk. 
Peaceable drunks are those unfortunates who have imbibed too much to 
take care of themselves and yet do not fall below the minimum of lawful 
behavior. The police corral them in the station houses to protect them 
against pickpockets and the elements until they are sober and then release 
them, no charge being entered on the books. From 1,500 to 2,000 "peace- 
able" drunks are taken care of annually. 



76 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

The chief of police's reports show arrests for drunkenness (October 1, 
1910, to September 30, 1913), as follows: 

Males 4,899 or 90% 

Females 496 or 10% 5,395 

Police court records, as per Tables 1 and 2 show that these arrests re- 
sulted in 2,678 committals, or fifty per cent., from which it would appear 
that one-half of the people who are brought in police court charged with 
drunkenness are committed to jail. However, it will be seen further on 
that a few individuals can in the course of three years be responsible for 
quite a number of commitments. It is a singular thing that drunkenness 
is the assigned cause of 66.3 per cent, of commitments of white male re- 
peaters, and 75 per cent, of white female repeaters, while in case of negro 
male repeaters it figures only 18 per cent, and negro females 25 per cent. 

Note (Table 2) that only three white males were committed for carry- 
ing concealed weapons, as against 46 negroe males and two negro females, 
and in cruelty to animals the negroes outnumber the whites 23 to 2. Note 
that in fornication negroes lead by an overwhelming majority, 73 to 3, 
and that it is about evenly divided between the sexes. 

There is room for speculation in the fact that no white repeaters were 
jailed for gaming, while 209 negro males and 4 negro females were com- 
mitted. In keeping resorts for gaming, the negroes are also in a vast 
majority, 30 to 1. Note that for keeping houses of ill-fame 2 white females, 
1 negro male and 14 negro females were committed. For non-support, or 
neglect of family, 13 negroes and 9 whites were jailed. In all other offenses 
against public order the negroes predominate over the whites, for example: 
Promoting policy, negroes 3, whites 0; selling liquor without license, ne- 
goes 20, whites 3; speeding automobile, negroes 3, whites 0; street-walking, 
negro females, 146, white females, 5. Vagrancy and begging are more 
equally divided between the races, but as to sexes the record shows 247 
males to 15 females. 

Felony. 

Only 4 per cent, of repeaters were felons, as per Tables 2 and 16, while 
it will be seen by Table 1 that felons number 7 per cent, of one-timers. As 
the majority of felons are confined in jail only while awaiting trial, oi* 
guards from the penitentiary or road camps, they are really not jail pri- 
soners proper, and as the average term for which they were committed was 
two years and 63 days, it will readily be seen that this class could not have 
done much "repeating" in the three years' time under examination. This 
probably accounts for the disparity in above percentages. 

Note (Table 16) that felony is distributed as follows: Negro males 80 
per cent., and negro females, 12 per cent., that white males were found 
guilty of only 8 per cent., and white females of none; and as to sex, negro 
and white males 88 per cent., negro females 12 per cent. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 77 

Suspected of Felony. 

This unclassified item foots the list with 1,3 per cent. In these cases 
the police court docket sometimes charges a felony, without specifying the 
class, and then again reads "Suspicious character, suspected of felony," 
hence no analysis or classification could be made. The verdict in cases 
entered here as "suspected of felony," was invariably so many dollars 
surety for so many days, and to jail in default. Note the analysis: negro 
males 67 per cent., negro females 23 per cent; white males 10 per cent., 
while no white females were committed under suspicion of felony. 

Punishment. 

By referring to Table 20 it will be noted that 91 per cent, of jail pri- 
soners proper were committed in default of fine and surety, fine only, or 
surety only; in other words, because they owned neither money or prop- 
erty, and had no friends to go their security. Strictly speaking they were 
not criminals. But because they were poor and friendless they were de- 
tained in jail and treated as criminals. Only 9 per cent., or those convicted 
of minor felonies and petty larceny, were actually criminals, and yet the 
punishment is the same for both. For instance, a man is convicted of being 
drunk and disorderly. He is fined. He is poor and cannot pay. He is 
committed to jail for ten or fifteen days in default. Or, maybe, he is re- 
quired to give security for 20, 30, 60 or 90 days and goes to jail in default. 
Another man is found guilty of petit larceny or a minor felony. He is sen- 
tenced to jail, as the records will show, 15, 20, 30, 60 or 90 days. If the 
"drunk" is an old offender he is probably required to give $100 security for 
six or twelve months, or go to jail in default. Sometimes he is sentenced 
to the roads for a like period. The thief or felon, if he be an old offender, 
will likewise suffer an increase of punishment in the same ratio. And the 
drunkard, although he may have never injured any one but himself, 
although he may never have taken other people's money or property, finds 
himself undergoing the same punishment as the habitual thief and felon. 

The Fining System. 

The old theories of punishment have not stood the test of modern prac- 
tice, and one by one they are being abandoned. One theory we still cling 
to, and which seems the most difficult to relinquish is the fining system. 
It is rooted in the fee and spoils system, and will die hard, but it must 
go eventually. Here is how it works: Bill Bruteson gets drunk and beats 
his neighbor. He is arrested and brought before the police justice who 
says: "I am sorry to see you here, but you have violated the law and, 
therefore, you must be punished. Pay me five dollars or I will have to 
send you to jail for ten days." Bill cannot pay, and so he goes to jail. 
Now, as you well know, people cannot be fed and lodged in jail without 
qfxpense, so the effect of the sentence is that if Bill does not pay to the 
police justice five dollars out of his own pocket, the taxpayer has to go 
down into his pocket and pay the jailer five dollars. And Bill's neighbor, 
being a taxpayer, has to contribute a portion of this. Bill is injured by 



78 State Board of Charities and Corrections 



being sent to jail; his neighbor is injured in the first place by being as- 
saulted and in the second by having to pay for his assailant's board and 
lodging, and if Bill's family happens to be in want, his neighbor, directly or 
indirectly, is injured by having to contribute towards their support; and 
to cap the situation, the police justice fails to collect the fine. Here's where 
the trouble is: Bill is not the only one that has to pay. But to offset this, 
as the theory goes, when he gets out of jail he is supposed to have ex- 
piated his offense. Let's see if he has. To sum up his history: He got 
drunk; beat his neighbor; was fined five dollars; couldn't pay; then he 
was sent to jail and there confined in enforced idleness ten days. How 
does spending ten idle days in jail expiate the offense? Is Bill any better 
off? No, because he has been idle when he could have been at work; he 
has, perhaps, received a lesson in vice, immorality or crime from a past 
master, and on the whole, he is decidedly worse off than when he entered 
jail. Is Bill's neighbor any better off? No, for in addition to nursing his 
injured feelings he has had to help support the man who assaulted him. 
If Bill keeps the peace in future, maybe something has been accomplished; 
it <may be that by this he can expiate his offense; but a jail sentence is 
not calculated to rouse feelings of peace and amity, and so the issue is 
doubtful and expiation much of a myth. 

Looking at the matter from another angle, had Bill been a man of 
means, he might have beaten his neighbor, or committed any one of a large 
number of offenses without risk of imprisonment. So, it appears that the 
fining system is nothing less than a licensing of anti-socially inclined per- 
sons to break the law. And even in this the license does not always fall 
equally on the licensee. For instance, two men appear in court charged 
with speeding, or reckless driving. One is an autoist, the other a delivery 
wagon driver. The autoist is fined one hundred dollars. The driver of the 
wagon is fined ten dollars. To the one the fine represents only a small in- 
road on his means, while to the other it represents more than a week's 
wages. The autoist can furnish bond and take an appeal and in a higher 
court the fine will probably be reduced to twenty-five dollars. The driver 
most likely hasn't the money to pay his fine nor can he find any one so 
unwise as to go his bond, so he goes to jail. 

The Jail as a Reformative Institution. 

No one has ever been so foolish as to contend that our methods of deal- 
ing with jail prisoners make for their reform. It may be that some classed 
as "one-timers" have been checked in their career by the treatment they re- 
ceived, but as a matter of fact, many of them never ought to have been sent 
to jail at all. They could have been just as well handled on probation. The 
cost to the taxpayer would have been less; the result on the offender would 
have been more for good than ill; and all parties concerned would have 
been better off. 

Instead of being reformative, jail methods tend to the making of crimi 
nals, as exemplified by the large number of repeaters. It is true that the 
jail takes the offender off the street for a space of time, and prevents him 
from annoying those at liberty; but this method is extremely expensive, and 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 79 

when the offender is released the chances are that he will repeat the offense, 
soon get the jail habit, spending the majority of his days in idleness at the 
taxpayers' expense, and finally, in old age, drift to the almshouse to be sup- 
ported there by the taxpayer until his worthless life dribbles out. Half the 
money it costs to keep prisoners helpless in jail for wrong-doing, if spent 
in helping them to help themselves towards right-doing, would prevent 
many of them from offending again. But this can never be done so long as 
we cling to the jail system. 

The Jail Is a Deterrent. 

The mere fact that 60 per cent, of jail commitments during the short 
space of three years is accounted for by repeaters is in itself prima facie 
evidence that the jail as a deterring influence against crime is sadly lack- 
ing in power. By increasing the time period to six years and studying the 
same records, it could, doubtless, be demonstrated that fully 80 per cent, 
of our jail population is made up of individuals who come and come again. 

By referring to Tables 17, 18 and 19, it will be noted that repeaters not 
only repeat, but repeat in the same offense over and over again. Drunkards 
repeat in drunkenness, thieves repeat in petit larceny, street-walkers repeat 
in street-walking; and they all mix other offenses with these. It is evi- 
dent that the kind of punishment meted out to them has no deterring in- 
fluence. Table 17 shows that one individual was committed 18 times for 
drunkenness in three years, and that 346 individuals were responsible for 
1,333 commitments, or 82.4 per cent, of all commitments for drunkenness. 
Table 18 shows that one man was committed five times in succession for 
petit larceny, five men four times in succession, nine men three times in 
succession, and that 53 individuals were responsible for 35 per cent, of the 
total commitments for this offense. Table 19 shows that one woman was 
in jail 10 times in three years for street-walking, and that 33 women were 
responsible for 71 per cent, of the total number of commitments for this 
offense. 

In each class of crimes or offenses, the punishment each time involved 
spending a certain period, ranging from ten days to twelve months in jail. 
Each time a released prisoner contemplated committing a new offense, the 
thought of returning to jail did not deter him. After the first commitment 
he has been branded as a "jail bird" and has gotten used to the stigma, 
so the stigma is no deterrent. After the first time he doesn't mind so much, 
and although he may repeat eight times or ten times a year, the repeated 
lessons in confinement do not deter him from committing other offenses 
after the termination of this series of sentences. No; not even repeated 
lessons in confinement act as a deterrent. Why? 

Because: The repeater occupies a low level, mentally and morally. He 
doesn't reason as clearly as the man of average intelligence who manages 
to keep out of jail. It will be noted further on that 64 per cent, of repeaters 
are sub-normal, or feeble-minded. The others although re-acting as normal, 
are anti-social persons, some of them confirmed in anti-social habits and, 
therefore, they do not think and act normally; for the normal man is social 
and resents anti-social conduct. To the feeble-minded and other anti-social 



80 State Board of Charities and Corrections 



persons the jail appeals because they know that there they may rest and 
recuperate from their excesses. 

Although the street-walker may show a slight improvement in physical 
condition, the confinement does not improve her morally. On the contrary, 
what she did not already know about her trade she probably learns from an 
older fellow prisoner. 

The drunkard may temporarily eliminate the drink demon, but nothing 
is put in place of it, and when he goes forth from jail, the devil and all 
his brethren with renewed ardor are waiting for him to again occupy his 
life. 

The thief having nothing else to do, learns from a fellow thief new 
tricks in the trade, and is, therefore, a little cleverer with his next job. 

And the vagrant, after having deteriorated physically, and therefore 
morally, and perhaps learned a few lessons in crime, goes forth and tries 
his hand in a new game of getting something for nothing. 

Par better it would be that they should occupy themselves as did the 
criminals in the old English prisons, who simply had to carry iron balls 
from one corner of the prison court to the other, to heap them up and then 
carry them back — even this would be better than idleness. It is true that 
that is now considered cruel punishment, but it kept their muscles toned 
up — it kept them from degenerating physically, and therefore, it kept them 
from disintegrating morally as rapidly as they might otherwise have done; 
it helped to checkmate criminal activity; for with them physical idleness 
means criminal activity. With nothing else to occupy their time they busy 
themselves inventing criminal ideas, which will upon their release explode 
like bombs against the pillars of society. But in the light of our civiliza- 
tion we do not need to hark back to medieval methods. We have some- 
thing better to offer. 

Feedle-Mindedness as a Cause of Grime and Drunkenness. 

To ascertain the extent of feeble-mindedness among jail repeaters, one 
hundred prisoners were selected at random from the list of 1,425, and tested 
with the Binet-SimOn scale. At the time of selection no attention was paid 
to the nature of their delinquency records; but to gain a fair idea of the 
mentality of their respective races, whites and negroes, irrespective of the 
nature or degree of their offenses, were chosen in equal proportions. In ad- 
dition to the psychological test, however, reactions were obtained to sup- 
plementary tests as to family, personal, and social history, social acquire- 
ments, economic efficiency and personal knowledge, and each individual 
was identified with his recorded criminal history. An examination of the 
results reveals that by chance the proportion of drunks and criminals tested 
is 50 per cent, each, and that among the drunks are numbered 34 whites 
and 16 negroes, while the criminals include 16 whites and 34 negroes. 
Therefore, while conclusions as to the respective percentages of the feeble- 
minded among the races would be unquestioned, when it comes to deducing 
that the level of mentality of inebriates in general is higher or lower than 
the mental level of criminals, thoroughly accurate conclusions could not be 
based on the number tested, but in the main the results are fairly indica- 
tive. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 81 

As a result of these tests (see Table 21), it has been ascertained that 
64 per cent, of the repeaters examined are feeble-minded, i. e., they pos- 
sess a mentality lower than that of a normal twelve year old child, accord- 
ing to the Binet-Simon scale, and their reactions to the life of the social 
group in their respective communities confirm the findings of the psycho- 
logical test. 

It was borne in mind while giving the test that adults, as a rule, react 
more slowly to the Blnet test than children, and accordingly more time for 
reactions was allowed. And in case of the negro adults, it was observed 
that they reacted more slowly than the white adults. This also was taken 
into consideration and due allowance made. This answers any criticism 
that might be offered and which might be invited when one notes that while 
the whites tested only 50 per cent, sub-normal, the reactions in the case of 
negroes showed 78 per cent, to be sub-normal. 

Tabulating them in two general classes of "drunks" and criminals, it 
will be noted that the former appear to be on a higher mental level than 
the latter; for instance, "drunks" tested 58 per cent, sub-normal, while the 
criminals reacted 78 per cent, sub-normal. One might argue from this that 
the drunkard stands on a higher mental level than the criminal. In favor 
of this argument, note that only 44 per cent, of white inebriates reacted as 
sub-normal against 62 per cent, of white criminals. But opposed to it is 
the fact that the negroes tested as to "drunks" 87.5 per cent, sub-normal 
and criminals 73.5 per cent, sub-normal, with the balance slightly in favor 
of the argument. However, as before suggested, the number of each race 
tested as to mentality in relation to the character of delinquency is re- 
garded as insufficient evidence on which to base accurate conclusions. 

Bear in mind though, that out of one hundred repeaters, 64 reacted con- 
clusively as sub-normal persons, and assuming this to be true, figuring on 
this basis there are more than nine hundred repeaters who will never be 
able (on account of mental defect existing from birth or an early age) to 
conduct themselves with prudence enough to keep out of prison, and who 
will always fail to respond favorably to methods of reform ordinarily ap- 
plied to normal delinquents. Therefore, for these persons special provision 
should be made either in a colony for the feeble-minded or on a prison farm 
for misdemeanants. The rest of the repeaters should also receive treatment 
better than the jail system affords, where they can be made to pay for* 
their own maintenance, and will have an opportunity to reform. 

As has been stated in the foregoing, 91 per cent, of jail prisoners are 
not criminals in the strictest sense, for they would not have been in jail 
had they possessed foresight enough to have had on hand a few dollars or 
the equivalent in credit. Therefore, the difference between the majority of 
jail pisoners and the police court delinquents who pay their fines seems to 
be one of foresight. One has it and the other has it not. And lack of fore- 
sight in such an extreme degree is one of the chief characteristics of the 
feeble-minded. Take a mental snapshot of the life of a feeble-minded man. 
Foresight has not controlled his birth — he is born to feeble-minded parents 
who raise one child a year of his stamp — he is brought up in a squalid en- 
vironment. His parents haven't foresight enough to provide a better one. 



82 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

He goes to school. He finds it difficult to learn. At the first opportunity 
he drops out and goes to work. His parents haven't foresight enough to 
see the error of this, and they need the money. Being unskilled and back- 
ward as a worker, the boy earns little. -He gets discouraged. He leaves 
his job. He remains in idleness for a while and gets another. He hasn't 
foresight enough to stick to one thing. He hasn't foresight enough to pre- 
pare for the future. He drifts from job to job and finally in a period of 
unemployment temptation comes, he reacts to a criminal impulse, the in- 
hibition comes too late. He yields and is caught. He hasn't had foresight 
enough to make friends who have foresight. He hasn't had foresight 
enough to save a little money. So for lack of foresight he goes to jail. 
Therefore, lack of foresight makes him, in the eyes of the law, a criminal. 
Here follow some cases selected as typical of how sub-normal delin- 
quents react to life, and showing that institutions with which they come in 
contact fail to check them in their anti-social careers. 

Typical Cases. 

Case IX. — E. W. Chronological age 24; mental age 11.1. — E. W. was born 
of a neurasthenic father and normal mother. "When E. W. was a young 
child his father committed suicide. As the boy grew older his mother no- 
ticed the same nervous peculiarities in him that his father had exhibited. 
Sometimes at the table he would stop eating, assume a faraway look, then 
his face would gradually lose all expression, and for 48 hours thereafter he 
would be extremely nervous and become intensely irritated if any one spoke 
to him. The boy attended public school until he was fourteen when he 
stopped to go to work. His teachers said he gave little trouble, but seemed 
incapable of learning, and could barely read and write when he left school. 

When about sixteen E. W. began drinking, and as drink always accen- 
tuated his nervousness, making him fighting mad over the smallest trifle, 
he soon landed in jail. His mother married again and when his step-father 
tried to take him in hand the boy rebelled and left home. During the past 
eight years he has been in jail in Richmond and other cities a good many 
times, usually for drunkenness and disorderly conduct. 

E. W. tried job after job; once he worked two years at a trade, but 
for some unascertained reason he quit and shifted to another place. Finally 
he started to work as an apprentice painter and learned his trade. He 
has never worked steadily since that time. Excellent opportunities have 
been thrown his way, but he has persistently refused to take advantage of 
them. During the three years of this study his record shows as many as 
fifteen commitments to one jail. 

His heredity, his school record, his personal and social history, together 
with his industrial history and the reactions of the Binet test lead us to 
believe that E. W. is a high grade moron. At present he is a burden en any 
community he chooses as his abiding place, and he will doubtless burden 
the State either in jail or other institutions the remainder of his life. 
Therefore, he should be taken in charge and put where he can be made to 
earn his own support. 

Case X. — W. H. Chronological age 28. Mental age 8.1. — W. H. was 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 83 

born of ignorant illiterate parents in a squalid quarter of Richmond. His 
father is said to have betrayed comrades in a labor riot trial, and to have 
fled here to escape their wrath. For several years he lived on money 
alleged to have been sent him as the price of betrayal. Since living in 
Richmond he has never worked regularly, dividing his time, as a rule, be- 
tween drinking and fighting and going to jail. Two weeks before he died 
of tuberculosis, he was in jail. Of W. H.'s mother little is known except 
that she is said to have been a good woman, but very simple. 

As a boy W. H. was the constant companion of his father, he received 
no schooling — says he never was in a school in his life — and doesn't know 
how to read or write. 

W. H. seems to have followed the line of least resistance invariably. 
Imitating his father's example he early began to drink and carouse. He 
committed numerous small thefts against his companions, and as they re- 
fused to appear against him he was not prosecuted. Growing bolder, he 
stole from outsiders and landed in jail for a six months' sentence. Prior 
to this he had made the acquaintance of the jail as a result of sprees, and 
his aged mother had paid his fines. She soon grew tired of this, how- 
ever, and stopped coming to his rescue. He now averages eight times a 
year in jail, sentences varying from ten days to six months. In three 
years he has spent only about thirty days out of jail. His jail record, be- 
ginning when he was about seventeen, and extending over a period of 
eleven years, shows that he has been committed not less than sixty times, 
and he has been in police court at least one hundred times. 

When about twenty, W. H. married into a family which has been cost- 
ing charitable organizations of this city an average of $100 per annum. No 
children have resulted from this marriage, and for the past few years he 
has not been living with his wife, who, it is said, bears a reputation no 
better than his. 

As a workman W. H. has never earned over $1.50 per day, and that as 
an ordinary day laborer. One of his former employers says he has known 
W. H. for ten years, who came to work for him as a boy of seventeen or 
eighteen and worked off and on for five or six years in a spasmodic fashion. 
Had to be. watched all the time as he wasn't "overbright" and made a good 
many mistakes. As soon as he received his pay he would disappear for 
a week, a month, or sometimes six months. Was constantly getting in 
trouble; as soon as he got a drink or two in him would quarrel and fight 
with the first man that same along. 

W. H.'s parents, or at least one of them was a moron, and W. H. un- 
mistakably belongs to this class. According to the Binet^Simon Measuring 
Scale for Intelligence he is only 8.1 years old mentally. Or, in other 
words, he is a child with the stature and passions of a man. His heredity 
is bad, his personal and criminal history show that he is habitually anti- 
social, that he has never been able to take care of himself, and will burden 
the community as long as he lives, either in jail, the penitentiary, or some 
other institution supported by the taxpayer. His record in police court and 
jail shows that he is costing the taxpayer annually, as follows: 



84 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

In uncollected fines $ 60 00 

Maintenance in jail 90 00 

Economic loss of time (idle in jail) 177 50 

Total $ 327 50 

Assuming that this is a fair average for the eleven years during which 
he has been coming in contact with the law, the total cost for the period 
would be $3,602.50. 

Had the boy of seventeen come into contact with the right kind of instl 
tution upon his initial experience in delinquency all this could have been 
saved. If the man of twenty-eight is not taken in charge by the State and 
sent to a proper institution the cost will continue to mount up. In an in- 
stitution for the feeble-minded he may yet be useful to the taxpayer instead 
of an ever-increasing burden, for when at work he earns $1.50 a day, when 
in jail he costs the State 25c. a day. The true economic loss in his case is, 
therefore, $1.75 a day, less board and clothing. 

Case XI. — B. J. Age 38. Mental age 8.3. — His parents never succeeded 
in raising themselves above the poverty line, and consequently the environ- 
ment afforded their son was unfavorable. He could not learn his A B C's, 
so they did not think it worth while to keep him in school. He played 
around in the gutter until old enough to work, and then got a job in a fac- 
tory. It seems that he soon grew tired of labor, and tried "bumming" for 
a while. This landed him in jail. He early started the alcoholic route to 
oblivion, and this together with the jail habit, seems to be about the only 
line of vocation he has persistently followed. He claims to have worked in 
many places around town, but can name only one — the last job. There he 
worked only two weeks, and was "fired" for loafing. 

B. J., when examined, could not name the day, nor the month, nor tell 
within seven years what year it was. He could not name but six months 
of the year, nor give any four months in consecutive order. He failed to 
answer questions of comprehension which the average child of nine finds 
easy. 

For the past twenty years he has spent most of his time in jail on 
charges ranging from drunkenness and disorderly conduct to vagrancy, 
begging, and petit larceny. And in spite of his repeated offenses, he has 
been receiving at the hands of justice the same treatment for his mental 
and moral sickness year in and year out, with no chance of cure. Figuring 
the economic loss, court expenses, maintenance in jail, etc., he has cost the 
State at least $6000.00 already, which is a rather large doctor's bill when 
there is no hope of being cured by the treatment. On a prison farm for 
misdemeanants or in a colony for the feeble-minded he could at least be 
made self-supporting, and perhaps more, instead of a perpetual source of 
expense to the taxpayer. 

The Cost. 

Turning to the State Auditor's reports, we find that the total expense 
to the State of prisoners in the jail in question for maintenance and trial 




DOES JAIL LABOR PAY? 

The answer is on Virginia soil. The District of Columbia is saving 

$80,000 per annum by working jail prisoners on the 

farm at Occoquan, Va. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 85 

expenses was for the period of this study $112,141.01. After allowing for 
clipped sentences and the time of penitentiary, reformatory, roads and 
asylum prisoners, the cost of maintenance figures as follows: 

298,805 days at 25.1c $75,000 00 

The cost of maintaining repeaters, on a basis of the above, would be 
$45,000.00 for the three years in question. Fines and costs in repeaters' 
cases for this period, assessed but not collected, amounted to $32,128.15. 
Just how much of this is the State's loss and how much the city's loss, is, 
under the present system of distributing fines, hard to arrive at, but it is 
apparent that the taxpayer has lost all of it. 

Granting that the economic value of prisoners is 50 cents a day over 
and above their own support (at the lowest estimate) the taxpayers of 
Virginia have lost on account of repeaters, which, as has been stated, con- 
stitute 60 per cent, of the jail population, as follows: 

Cost of maintaining repeaters in jail 179,883 days at 25.1c per day. .$ 45,150 63 
Loss of economic value of repeaters 179,883 days at 50c per day. . 89,y41 50 
Loss on account of fines, assessed but not collected 32,128 15 



Total $167,220 28 

As this last item would, under a prison farm system, have been absorbed 
by taking advantage of the economic value of the prisoners, the actual loss 
could not be placed at more than $135,092.13, or $45,030.71 per annum in one 
city jail. 

It has been shown that 64 per cent, of repeaters are feeble-minded, and 
since the loss on account of repeaters being maintained in idleness amounts 
to $45,030.71 per annum, take 64 per cent, of this and you have the loss 
occasioned by maintaining the feeble-minded in idleness in the city jail in 
question, which is $28,819.65 per annum. The number of jail prisoners for 
1914 in Virginia was 26,384. In the same proportion the total loss to the 
State occasioned by present methods of handling the feeble-minded in jail 
would be $277,386.78 per annum — enough money to purchase and equip two 
farms the size of the District of Columbia Prison Farm. 

A Possible Solution. 

Were the economic side of the question the only phase to be considered, 
the argument here and now in favor of a colony for the feeble-minded on a 
larger scale, and a prison farm for misdemeanants is well worth consider- 
ing. By committing the feeble-minded delinquents to the feeble-minded col- 
only where they would not be allowed to propagate their kind, and by com- 
miting other repeaters not classed as feeble-minded, but found by repeated 
offenses against society to be anti-social, to a prison farm for misdemean- 
ants on an indeterminate sentence, the State would save in this one city 
$45,000 per annum, which is the interest on $750,000. 

Aside from the immediate gain (and by immediate gain is meant the 



86 State Board of Charities and Corrections 



gain to be derived within several years' time), the potential saving should 
be taken into consideration. If anti-social persons, both feeble-minded and 
normal, are allowed to continue as they are now trending, the debt future 
generations will have to pay will stagger humanity. We shudder when we 
think of the Jukes and the Kallikaks and the Tribe of Ishmael, the degen- 
eracy that has resulted and the millions of dollars it has cost the taxpayers 
of other States; but right here in Virginia we have our own Jukes, and our 
own Kallikaks, and our own Tribe of Ishmael, and now is the time to act. 

A Prison Farm for Misdemeanants. 

It has been argued that although the employment of prisoners to do 
prison work may be justified on other grounds, it cannot be defended on an 
economic basis. The fact that our penitentiary and State farm and road 
camps are self-supporting answers this argument. It has been argued that a 
prison farm for misdemeanants would not pay as so many of the prisoners 
are sentenced for such a short time, and that although it may be possible 
for long time prisoners to pay for themselves, short time prisoners could 
never be made to do so. The answer is on Virginia soil. Sentences of mis- 
demeanants committed to the District of Columbia farm are from three days 
to two years, the average sentence being thirty-five days, and yet the farm 
pays. The average in the city jail studied is 54 days. Under the old system 
misdemeanants were costing the District of Columbia an average of $100, 
000.00 per annum. The average cost per annum during the four years the 
prison farm has been in existence is less than $20,000.00 per annum — a 
saving of not less than $80,000.00 per annum, and the authorities say that 
in a few more years the farm will not only be supporting the prisoners, 
officers, guards and families of non-supports, but will be able to give aid to 
the distressed families of the majority of prisoners. The District of Colum- 
bia Commissioners think so well of the farm idea that they have recently 
purchased another large tract of land adjoining the present farm, and will 
establish there reformative institutions to handle felons, instead of sending 
them with federal prisoners to Atlanta and Leavenworth. 

One disadvantage they are now laboring under is the fixed sentence. 
Here is what the superintendent, Mr. W. H. Whittaker, says about this: 

"A fixed sentence, such as the courts are now compelled to give 
to those who violate the law, and especially those who have short 
terms, such as 15 or 30 days, is the cause of much of the crime and 
vagrancy committed in the District. I recommend that the criminal 
code be so amended that prisoners committed to the workhouse 
should be sentenced for a period of not less than 30 days nor more 
than two years, the time of release to be vested in the Commissioners 
of the District, depending upon the ability of the prisoner to main- 
tain himself as a self-supporting and law-abiding citizen. 

Until we have a law giving us time to study the crimes and 
causes for which prisoners are sentenced we will not be able to use 
the best methods to correct and return to society at least 60 per cent. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 87 

of those who come to us, as self-supporting and law-abiding citizens. 
There is nothing like the work test to bring out the best that is in 
an individual, and it is this system we have inaugurated at the work- 
house. With the indeterminate sentence we will be able to steadily 
and persistently apply the method, until we will be able to determine 
just when the individual is ready for parole. The fellow who has a 
constitutional aversion to industry will soon reveal his true character 
under this form of treatment, so we may easily know him and put 
him in a class, under proper discipline, where he may be self-sup- 
porting while in the institution, but if permitted to go at large would 
at all times be a source of annoyance and expense to the community 
where he may go. It is not necessary, even with this class of sub- 
jects, to humiliate or degrade them. It is far better to inspire and 
encourage them. With an indeterminate sentence we will have time 
to give them a few months of wholesome diet, with regular habits, 
honest work, sanitary buildings in which to be housed, and clean cloth- 
ing to wear; and many ot those apparently hopeless subjects can be 
made into better men and women. It is possible through proper 
discipline and constant work to arouse in the lowest type of humanity 
confidence and self-respect." 

Here is another argument for an indeterminate sentence: If the third 
conviction felon is deemed incorrigible to such an extent that he must be 
confined for life, why shouldn't the misdemeanant convicted for the third 
time be committed on an indetermine sentence to a suitable institution 
where he will be under observation and can be discharged when in the 
opinion of the authorities in charge he reforms? 

In our present system of dealing with the delinquent class it seems that 
we do much of our best work at the wrong end. We are careless in hand- 
ling beginners in crime; we slur over their cases without considering either 
the mentality of the prisoner or the background to his offense; we commit 
a man to jail if he cannot pay his fine; we give him a start penitentiary- 
wards, and then after we have succeeded in getting him there, we clothe 
him better, feed him better, and house him better than we do in jail. If 
we were as intelligent in our treatment of the beginner in crime as we are 
in dealing with the incorrigible, we would get much better results. We can 
point to our penitentiary and State farm with pride, for they are efficiently 
managed institutions. The penitentiary has as its slogan: "We want our 
institution to be the best of its kind in the United States." The jail — well — 
the jail has no slogan save its insiduous voiceless appeal to the anti-social. 

Summary. 

1. Our method of dealing with misdemeanants is doubly wrong — so- 
cially and economically. Socially, because (a) punishment is not adjusted 
to the peculiar character of the delinquent and is meted without due con- 
sideration to his mental condition, e. g., repeaters constitute 60 per cent, of 
the jail population and 64 per cent, of repeaters are feeble-minded; and (b) 
the jail as a correctional process does not correct, but, on the contrary, re- 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



suits in increasing delinquency, e. g., the large number of repeaters. Eco- 
nomically, we err in allowing prisoners to remain idle in jail at the expense 
of the taxpayer when they could be made to earn their own support in an 
institution suited to their mental and physical capacity. 

2. Not enough attention is being paid to cases of young offenders, first 
offenders, and petty, offenders. The background of each case should be 
carefully studied, and punishment should take into consideration both the 
good of the individual and the weal of society. This class of delinquents 
should be tried on probation and left in freedom conditioned upon future 
good behavior, and in cases of fines they should be allowed to pay in in- 
stalments. A man should not be branded a criminal because he is poor and 
cannot pay his fine at the time of trial. In case of repetition of their mis- 
demeanors delinquents should be sent to an appropriate institution with 
indeteminate sentence, to be detained until considered worthy of reinstate- 
ment in society. 

3. The jail as an institution is neither reformative nor deterrent, but 
is more in the nature of a public school of crime, vice and immorality; 
it is not only an anti-social institution, but is a ruinously expensive one, 
and, therefore, it should be abolished and a more humane and economical 
system adopted in its stead. 

4. Aa the prison farm exerts a reformative influence and as it can be 
made self-supporting by utilizing the labor of short time prisoners, it should 
be substituted for the jail system. 

Note: Over a year ago the city council of Richmond appropriated $23,- 
000.00 for the purchase of a city farm to be used instead of the jail. As yet 
Richmond has no city farm. 

Lynchburg is the only city in the State that has taken advantage of the 
new law. The city council of Lynchburg appropriated $5,000.00 for the pur- 
chase of land. A four hundred acre tract was purchased on the Lynchburg 
and Durham Railway, seven miles from Lynchburg. Also, an additional 
appropriation of $5,000.00 has been made for equipment. A one-story frame 
building has been erected, and this contains offices, dormitories, dining room, 
kitchen, etc. Ninety-six men have served sentences ranging from fifteen to 
ninety days since the farm began operation, and in spite of the fact that 
there are no bolts or bars, locks or barbed wire stockade, or other prison 
features which might seem to prevent escapes, and despite the fact that 
there are no guards at night, and men can come and go at will, there have 
been only five attempts and but two escapes. Only one punishment has been 
found necessary — the man was put to work breaking rock. As the neces- 
sary equipment is installed, and other buildings are erected, the population 
will be added to until the jail is entirely empty. Under the new law (Chap. 
333, Acts of Assembly, 1914,) the same general arrangement as to fees and 
expenses allowed to jailors prevails. But now the State is reaping advan- 
tage from the economic value of prisoners, and causing them to be self- 
supporting, instead of losing not only the cost of maintenance, but their 
economic value also. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



89 



TABLE 1 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail one time 

During Period October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913. 

White— Men 934 

Women 43 

— 977 

Negro— Men 1,689 

Women 548 

2,237 

Total 3,214 





White 


Negro 


Total 


CRIMES 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Drunkenness ... 


574 
59 
14 

235 
52 

934 

820 
82 

902 


32 
3 
4 
3 
1 

43 

39 
4 

43 


381 
209 
48 
904 
147 


73 

41 

52 

361 

21 


1,060 


Petit larceny 


312 


Fornication 

Other misdemeanors 

Felony . . 


118 

1,503 

221 


Total 


1,689 


548 


3,214 


PUNISHMENT 
Committed to jail in default of fine 
and surety, fine only and surety 
onlv— 87. 5# 


1,297 
238 

1,535 


486 
51 

537 


2,642 


To jail— flat time sentence— 12. hf . . 
Total 


375 
3,017 


Committed to jail pending the ar- 
rival of guards from : 
The penitentiary 


26 
6 




100 
8 
46 

154 


11 


137 


The public roads . . 




14 


The Negro Reformatory 






46 


Total 


32 




11 


197 









N. B.— The above table was compiled from jail reports. 



90 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 2 

Total of Repeaters— Two to twenty-four times each in Jail 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 345 

Women 12 

357 

Negro— Men 837 

Women 231 

1,068 

Total 1,425 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 




Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 


33 

1 




274 
2 
3 

72 

283 
60 
73 

46 

22 

655 

454 

38 

209 

26 

1 

13 
3 
19 
3 

137' 

163 
43 


61 


368 


Contributory delinquency 




3 


Indecent assault 






3 


Wife or woman beating 


13 

48 
23 
21 

3 

2 

188 

945 

2 






85 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny 




33 
20 
31 

2 

1 

276 

179 

35 

4 

4 

14 


364 


Petit Jarceny, suspected of 




103 


Trespass 

3. Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon 


1 


126 

51 


Cruelty to animals 




25 


Disorderly conduct 


3 

40 

1 


1,122 


Drunkenness 

Fornication 

Gaming 


1,618 
76 
213 


Gaming, keeping resort for 


1 




31 


House of ill fame, keeping 


2 


17 


Non-support (neglect of family) 


9 


22 


Promoting policy 




r 


3 


Selling liquor without license. . . 


3 




23 


Speeding automobile 




3 


Street-walking 




5 

1 


146 
14 
21 

15 


151 


Vagrancy and begging 

Felony 


111 
16 
6 

1,425 


263 
200 


Felony, suspected of 




64 








Tota] 


53 


2,599 


857 


4,934 



Commitments — 

White— Men 1,425 

Women 53 

1,478 30% 

Negro— Men 2,599 

Women 857 

3,456 70% 

Total 4,934 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



91 



TABLE 3 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail two times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to geyteyn~ber 30, 1913 

White— Men 161 

Women 5 

166 

Negro — Men 456 

Women 104 

560 

Total 726 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 


15 
1 




78 

1 


19 


112 


Contributory delinquency 




2 


J ndecent assault 








Wife or woman beating 


4 

20 
8 
8 

2 

1 
68 
154 




19 

91 
14 
30 

20 

8 

262 

125 

19 

89 

10 




23 


2 Against Property 
Petit larceny 




9 

7 
8 


120 


Petit larceny, suspected of 


29 


Trespass 

3. Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon 


1 


47 
22 


Cruelty to animals 






9 


Disorderly conduct 


2 
3 


78 
33 
14 
2 
2 
9 


410 


Drunkenness 

Fornication 


315 
33 


Gaming 






91 


Gaming, keeping resort for 


1 




13 


House of iil-fame, keeping 




9 


Non-support (neglect of family) .. 


4 




6 
1 
6 

2 


10 


Promoting policy , 






1 


Selling liquor without license. . . 


2 






8 


Speeding automobile . 






2 


Street walking 




4 


14 


18 


Vagrancy and begging . 


27 

6 
1 


37 

82 
12 


64 


Felony 




7 
6 


95 


Felony, suspected of 




19 








Commitments 


322 


10 


912 


208 


1,452 



92 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 4 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail three times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 55 

Women 3 

— : 58 

Negro — Men 169 

Women ^ 42 

211 

Total 269 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 


4 




61 
1 

1 
19 

57 
11 
15 

5 

3 

129 

74 
12 
45 
7 
1 
2 
1 
8 
1 


^ 9 


74 


Contributory delinquency 




1 


Indecent assault 








1 


Wife or woman beating 


4 

8 
5 
3 

1 






23 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny 




5 
4 
5 


70 


Petit larceny, suspected of 




20 


Trespass 




23 


3. Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon 




6 


Cruelty to animals... 






3 


Disorderly conduct 


29 

97 

2 




45 
24 

7 
1 
2 


203 


Drunkenness 


8 


203 


Fornication. . . 


21 


Gaming 




46 


Gaming, keeping resort for... 






9 


House of ill-fame, keeping .. 






1 


Non-support ^neglect of family) 








2 


Promoting policy 








1 


Selling liquor without license . . 






1 


9 


Speeding automobile . 






1 


Street walking . 






14 


14 


Vagrancy and begging 

Unclassified 
Felony . 


7 

4 

1 


1 


15 

30 
9 

507 


23 


6 
3 

126 


40 


Felony, suspected of.. 




13 




9 


. 


Commitments 


165 


807 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



93 



TABLE 5 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail four times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 38 

Women 1 

39 

Negro — Men 99 

Women 30 

129 

Total 168 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 


Total 


Male 


Female j Male 


Female 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 


4 




44 . 11 


49 


Indecent assault 




1 

13 




1 


Wife or woman beating 


1 

6 
3 
3 






14 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny 




45 
16 


5 
3 


56 


Petit larceny, suspected of 




22 


Trespass 

3 Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon. . . 





11 

9 

3 

100 


4 


18 
9 


Cruelty to animals 







3 


Disorderly conduct 


25 

91 


1 


33 


159 


Drunkenness 


1 


175 


Fornication... 




3 3 


6 


Gaming 






23 
3 




23 


Gaming, keeping resort for . . 








3 


House of ill-lame, keeping 




i' 


1 


2 


Non-support (neglect of family j . 


5 


2 


7 


Selling liquor without license 




1 




1 


Street-walking .. 


l 


29 


30 


Vagrancy and begging 


10 

2 
2 




28 


38 


Unclassified 
Felony 




26 1 


29 


Felony, suspected of . . 




14 


17 




396 






Commitments 


152 


4 


120 


672 



94 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 6 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail five times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 13 

Women 

Negro— Men 45 

Women 12 

Total 



13 



57 



70 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 


1 




24 
8 

21 

7 
6 

2 

2 
51 
57 

1 
21 

2 


2 


27 


Wife or woman beating 




8 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny . . 


3 




1 
1 
3 


25 


Petit larceny, suspected of 




8 


Trespass 


2 




11 


3. Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon 




2 


Cruelty to animals 








2 


Disorderly conduct 


12 
42 




24 
12 
3 


87 


Drunkenness 




111 


Fornication 




4 


Gaming 






21 


Gaming, keeping resort for. . 






2 


House of ill-fame, keeping 






4 


4 


Non-support (neglect of family) . . 






1 

1 

1 


1 


Promoting policy . 








1 


Selling liquor without license 








1 


Street-walking 






6 
4 


6 


Vagrancy and begging 


3 

1 
1 

65 




13 

5 
2 


20 


Unclassified 
Felony 




6 


Felony, suspected of 






3 










Commitments 




225 


60 


350 













Mental Defectives in Virginia 



95 



TABLE 7 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail six times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 20 

Women 

Negro — Men 21 

Women 15 

Total 



20 

36 
56 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 




Male 


Female 


Male Female 


Total 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery .. 


3 




12 

1 
2 

14 
4 
3 


6 


21 


Indecent assault .. 




l 


Wife or woman beating 


1 

3 

1 
1 






3 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny 




1 


18 


Petit larceny, suspected of .. 






Trespass 




3 

1 
27 
27 

2 


7 


3. Against Public Order 
Cruelty to animals. . . 




1 


Disorderly conduct . 


6 
94 




30 
37 


63 


Drunkenness 




158 


Fornication 




2 


Gaming . . , 






3 
2 

1 


3 


Gaming, keeping resort for 








2 


Non-support (neglect of family) 






1 


Street-walking . 






21 

1 

1 


21 


Vagrancy and begging . 


10 

1 




10 

4 
3 


21 


Unclassified 
Felony 




6 


Felony, suspected of... 




3 










Commitments 


120 




126 


90 


336 









96 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 8 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail seven times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White^Men 15 

Women 

Negro — Men 12 

Women 7 

Total 



15 



19 



34 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 






5 
2 

13 
3 
1 

3 


1 


6 


Wife or woman beating .... 






2 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny . 


2 
2 

1 




5 
2 
1 

1 


20 


Petit larceny, suspeccted of. . . 




7 


Trespass. . 




3 


3. Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon .... 




4 


Cruelty to animal* 


1 
9 

82 




1 


Disorderly conduct 




9 

25 

1 

2 


11 
9 

2 


29 


Drunkenness 




116 


Fornication 




3 


Gaming . . 






2 


Selling liquor without license 

Street-waikin g 


1 






1 






12 
2 

1 
2 


12 


Vagrancy and begging 

Unclassified 

Felony 

Felony, suspected of 


6 
1 




13 

6 

1 


21 




8 




3 










Commitments 


105 




84 


49 


238 









Mental Defectives in Virginia 



97 



TABLE 9 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail eight times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White — Men 9 

Women 

Negro — Men 8 

Women 7 

Total 



15 



24 





White 


Negro 


Total 


CRIMES 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 


1 




15 
13 


4 
1 


20 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny . . 




14 


Petit larceny, suspected of 


2 




2 


Trespass... 




2 

3 
2 

13 
6 


2 


4 


3 Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapun 






3 


Ci uelty to animals 








2 


Disorderly conduct 


3 

59 




19 

13 

2 

1 


35 


Drunkenness 




78 


Fornication. .. 




2 


Gaming 






4 
1 
1 


5 


Gaming, keeping resort 






1 


Non support (neglect oi family)... 








1 


Street-walking 






11 

1 

1 

1 


11 


Vagrancy and begging 


6 

1 




1 
3 


8 


Unclassified 
Felony 




5 


Felony, suspected of 




1 






. 






Commitments 


72 


64 


56 


192 









98 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 10 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail nine times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 4 

Women - 1 

Negro— Men 12 

Women 4 

Total 



16 



21 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 




Male Female 

1 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1. Against tlie Person 
Assault and battery 


1 




15 
5 

8 
2 

2 
3 

19 
40 

1 
4 


4 


2» 


Wife or woman beating 




5 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny 


l 
l 






9 


Trespass 




2 


5 


3. Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon 




2 


Cruelty to animals... 








a 


Disorderly conduct 


4 
27 




11 
16 


34 


Drunkenness 


9 


92 


Fornication 


1 


Gaming 






2 


4 


Street-walking 






2 


Vagrancy and begging 


2 




4 

4 

1 

108 


6 


Unclassified 
Felony 






4 


Felony, suspected of 






1 


2 




36 


9 




Commitments 


36 


189- 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



99 



TABLE 11 



Delinquent Men and Women in Jail ten times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 10 

Women 

Negro — Men 6 

Women ". 4 

Total 



— 11 



10 



21 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 




Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery . . 






10 

1 

6 
4 
2 


2 


12 


Wife and woman beating 


2 




3 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny 




1 
3 
2 

1 
10 
6 
1 


7 


Petit larceny, suspected of 


1 
2 




8 


Trespass 

3. Against Public Order 
Carrying concealed weapon 





6 

1 


Disorderly conduct . . 


12 
72 





18 
8 


40 


Drunkenness 


? 


94 


Fornication... 


9 


Gaming 




7 


7 


House of ill-fame, keeping .. 




l 




1 


Selling liquor without license .. 




1 




1 


Street-walking .. 






7 



1 
1 


7 


Vagrancy and begging 

Unclassified 
Felony 


11 




2 
1 


16 
3 


Felony, suspected of 




9 










Commitments 


100 


10 60 


40 


210 







100 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 12 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail eleven times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 6 

Women 1 

Negro — Men 3 

Women 3 

Total 



13 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 




Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 






l 
1 

3 

1 


1 


2 


Wife or woman beating 






1 


2. Against Property 
Petit larceny 






3 


6 


Petit larcenj', suspected of 






1 


Trespass 






1 

9 
3. 

1 




3. Against Public Order 
Disorderly conduct . . 


1 
59 




6 


16 


Drunkenness 


11 


73 


Fornication 




1 


framing 






7 
1 


7 


Selling liquor without license 










Street-walking 






15 


15 


Vagrancy and begging 


6 




12 

1 


18 


Tin classified 
Felony 






1 












Commitments 


66 


11 


33 


33 


144 







Mental Defectives in Virginia 



TABLE 13 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail twelve times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 



White— Men . . . 
Women 



Negro — Men . . . 
Women 



101 



Total 



CRIMES 


Whitk 


Negro 


Total 


Male Female 


Male 


Female 


Against Property 
Petit larceny 


4 
1 


1 




Against Public Older 
Carrying concealed weapon 


:.. 

.;■ 


I 


Cruelty to animals 


1 

4 




1 


Disorderly conduct 


3 


7 


Drunkenness 


23 


1 5 


29 


Gaming 


1 




1 


Street-walking 1 


11 

1 

3 


11 


Vagrancy and begging 


1 




2 


Unclassified 
Felony 






3 










Commitments . 


24 ! 


12 


60 











102 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 14 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail Thirteen times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 2 

Women 

Negro — Men 2 

Women 

Total 



CRIMES 


We 


[ITE 


Negbo 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


1. Against the Person 






4 




4 




1 






1 


2. Against Property 




5 

1 
6 
5 
1 
1 
3 




5 


3 Against Public Order 








1 










6 




22 






27 








1 










1 


Vagrancy and begging 


3 






6 








Commitments" 


26 




26 




52 











Mental Defectives in Virginia 



103 



TABLE 15 

Delinquent Men and Women in Jail fourteen to twenty-four 

times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 

White— Men 10 

Women -. -. 

10 

Negro — Men , 3 

Women 

3 

Total 13 



CRIMES 


White 


Negro 




Male Female 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1. Against the Person 
Assault and battery 


4 




5 
2 

3 




9 


Wife or woman beating . . , 






2 


2 Against Property 
Petit larceny 


5 
1 

19 
123 






8 


Petit larceny , suspected of 






1 


P(i»W3. Against Public Order 
Disorderly conduct 




9 
22 
2 
1 
1 
1 




28 


Drunkenness 






145 


Gaming . .. 






2 


Gaming, keeping resort for. . . 








1 


Selling liquor without license 








1 


Vagrancy and begging .. 


19 
1 






20 


Unclasssfied 
Felony, suspected of 






1 







46 







Commitments .. 


172 


218 














104 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 16 

Table showing analysis of crimes for which repeaters were 

committed 



CLASSIFICATION 


White 


Negro 




Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1. Crimes against the person 


47 

92 

1,264 

16 

6 




351 

416 

1.626 

163 

43 

2,599 


61 
84 
676 
21 
15 

857 


459 


2. Crimes against property 

3. Crimes against public order 

Felony 


1 
52 


593 

3.618 

200 


Felony, suspected of. . . 




64 








Totals 


1,425 


53 


4.934 



Percentages 





Class 1 
Percent. 


Class 2 
Per Cent. 


Class 3 
Percent. 


1 Felony 
Percent. 


Susp. Fel. 
Per Cent. 


White— Male 

Female 


10. 

76!"4" 

13. 6 


15. 5 
00.17 
70. 
14.33 


34. 
00.15 
47.00 
18.85 


8. 


10. 


Negro — Male 

Female 


80. 
12. 


67. 
23. 



Class 1. Crimes against the person ., 

Class 2. Crimes against property 

Class 3. Crimes against public order 

Felony 

Felony, suspected of 



9.3£ 
12. % 
.73.4* 

4. % 
, 1.3J6 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



105 



TABLE 17 

Persons in Jail for Drunkenness two to eighteen times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 



White— Male .. 

Female 



Xegro— Male . . 
Female 



Total 



203 

6 



97 
40 



209 



137 



346 



TIMES 


White 


Negro 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


2 

3 

4... 


84 

36 

15 

16 

13 

14 

3 

2 

6 

7 

3 

2 

1 

1 

203 


1 
2 


50 

24 

12 

6 

1 
2 


.7 
7 
9 
3 

1 
1 
1 


152 
69 
36 


5 




25 


6 




15 


7 




17 


8 


1 
1 


5 


9 


1 


4 


10 


1 


7 


11 


l 


a :::. 




8 


12 







3 


13 








2 


IS 




i 




2 


18 






1 




6 








Total 


97 


40 


346 



Total commitments for above persons 1,333 

Or, 82.4% of total commitments for drunkenness in repeaters' cases (1,618). 



106 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 18 

Persons in Jail for Petit Larceny two to five times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 



White — Men . . . 
Women 



Negro — Men . . . 
Women 



Total 



10 


— 10 
40 

3 

— 43 



53 







TIMES 


White 


Negko 


Total 




Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


?, 






8 
1 

1 




29 
6 
4 
1 


1 
2 


38 


3 




9 


4 




5 


5 




1 




Total . 














10 




40 


3 


53 









Total commitments for above persons 128 

Or 35% of total commitments for petit larceny in repeaters' cases.... 364 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



107 



TABLE 19 

Women in Jail for Street- walking two to ten times 

During Period from October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 



White 
Negro 



Total 



1 
32 



33 



TIMES 


White 
Female 


Negro 
Female 


Total 


2 


1 


14 
8 
4 
2 
3 
1 

32 


15 


3 


8 


4 .. 




4 


5 




2 


6 




3 


io ; 




1 








Total 


1 


33 







Total commitments for above persons 108 or 71% 

Total commitments for street-walking in repeaters' cases 151 



108 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



TABLE 20 



Punishment meted to repeaters as per Police Court Dockets 
and Order Books of the Hustings Court 

From October 1, 1910, to September 30, 1913 



NATURE OF PUNISHMENT 


White 


Negro 


Total 


Per 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Cent. 


Committed to jail 
In default of fine and surety . . . 
In default of fine only 


398 
30 


19 1,454 604 3,475 
1 125 33 189 


60 
3 


In default of surety only 

^or flat time sentence in j ail . . 

Total of jail prisoners proper 


890 33 532 
84 355 


160 , 1.615 
45 484 


28 
9 


1,402 


53 


2,466 


842 5,763 





Note that of jail prisoners proper 9K were committed in default of fine and surety 
fine only, or surety only: in other words because they owned neither money nor prop- 
erty. Therefore the jail became to them a debtors' prison, although imprisonment for 
debt has long since been adjudged illegal. 





White 


Negro 


Total 


CRIMES 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Committed to jail pending the arri- 
val of guards from 

Virginia State Penitentiary 

The public roads 


I :::::::::::: 


85 
30 
18 


15 


102 
51 


The Negro Reformatory . . . 




18 




23 






Total 




133 


15 


171 











White 


Negro 


Total 


DEGREE OF PUNISHMENT 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Days to serve in jail in defanlt of 
Fine and surety 


18,157 

543 

45,398 

8,439 



72.537 


510 

30 

1,250 


67,878 


12,943 


99,488 


Fine only 


4.377 l 1,354 
41,922 10,827 


6,304 


Surety only 


99,397 


Flat j ail sentence 


39,271 


4,950 
30.074 


52,660 








Total 


1,790 


153,448 


257,849 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



109 



TABLE 21 



Mentality of Jail repeaters according to reactions to the 
Binet-Simon measuring scale for intelligence 



WHITE DELINQUENTS— MALE AND FEMALE 





Chronological Age 


Mental Age 


Under 21 


21-30 


31-40 


41-50 


51-60 


61-70 


Total 


7.... 




1 

4 
3 

2 
1 
6 






1 
2 




2 


8 


1 


2 
3 
2 


r 


9 


9... 


7 


10 






1 

1 


5 


11 






1 
1 

5 


2 


Normal 


1 


10 


7 
8 


25 


Totals 


2 


17 


50 



Feeble-minded 50% 

NEGRO DELINQUENTS-MALE AND FEMALE 





Chronological Age 


Mental Age 


Under 


21 


21-30 


31-40 


41-50 


51-60 


Total 


7 


2 
2 
1 


3 

6 
5 

7 
3 

7 

31 


i' 


\ 

1 




i- 


6 


8 


11 


9 


7 


10 


1 


10 


11. 


2 


5 


Normal 


3 

5 


1 
6 




11 








" 




Totals 


7 


50 



Feeble-minded 78% 

Total feeble-minded, white and negro 64% 



REPEATERS IN DRUNKENNESS 



Mental Age 



White men and women.. 
Negro men and women.. 



7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


Normal 


Total 


2 

1 


4 
5 


5 
3 


3 

4 


1 

1 


19 
2 


34 
16 



Per Cent 
F. M 



44.0 

87.5 



Total feeble-minded 

REPEATERS IN CRIlME 



58% 



Mental Age 



White men and women . . 
Negro men and women . . 



7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


Normal 


Total 


5' 


5 
6 


2 
4 


2 
6 


1 
4 


6 
9 


16 
34 



Per Cent 
F. M. 



62.5 
73.5 



Total feeble-minded. 



70% 



Chapter X. 



SUMMARY 



The Evil 

1. Where both parents are men- 
tally defective, feeble-mindedness 
is inherited not only by one child, 
but by all the children in the fam- 
ily. Approximately, 80% of feeble- 
mindedness is hereditary. 



2. Insanity, epilepsy and feeble- 
mindedness occur not only in the 
same individual, but in the same 
families, and appear to arise from 
the same neuropathic make-up. By 
eliminating the feeble-minded, we 
would proportionately reduce our 
insane and epileptic population. It 
costs at least $600,000.00 annually, 
exclusive of interest on the real 
and personal property to maintain 
our institutions for the insane. 

3. The feeble-minded child will 
not respond favorably to methods 
ordinarily applied to normal chil- 
dren. 



The Remedy 

1. Prevent by segregation or ster- 
ilization the procreation of the 
feeble-minded. Do this and most 
of them could be eliminated in two 
generations. 

Only by striking at the fountain 
head, i. e., by segregating or steril- 
izing all feeble-minded child-pro- 
ducers, can we hope to dry up the 
springs of this evil. 

2. Segregate the feeble-minded. 
Take them back to nature and let 
them earn their own support and 
save the State the three million 
dollars or more they are now cost- 
ing, directly or indirectly. 



3. As a means of detecting the 
feeble-minded in institutions for 
children, all children should be 
tested with the Binet scale, upon 
admission, their history carefully 
studied, and if found to be back- 
ward they should be placed in 
classes for backward children; and 
should subsequent reactions dem- 
onstrate them to be feeble-minded, 
then they should be sent to the 
colony for the feeble-minded. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



111 



4. Virginia spends nearly two 
and one-half millions a year in 
charity, including almshouse, pub- 
lic outdoor relief and private dona- 
tions. Much of this money is 
being used to perpetuate poverty. 
Our almshouses are virtually lying- 
in hospitals for feeble-minded wo- 
men. In some of our almshouses 
certain feeble-minded families have 
lived and propagated their kind for 
six and seven generations. 

Fully 80% of all persons in our 
almshouses are feeble-minded. 

$1,141,210.00 is tied up in alms- 
house real estate. The cost per 
capita of maintenance is $184.86. 
The almshouse is not only not a 
suitable institution for the feeble- 
minded, but is a far more expen- 
sive one than a colony for the 
feeble-minded would be. 

5. A large number of persons re- 
ceiving volunteer and public out- 
door relief are feeble-minded, or 
are burdened with feeble-minded 
relatives, and indiscriminate char- 
ity encourages such persons to live 
at large and propagate their kind. 
Outdoor relief authorities and or- 
ganized charities are not equipped 
to handle the feeble-minded. 

6. Sixty-eight per cent, of the 
children who pass through the ju- 
venile courts and are found in the 
industrial schools are apparently 
feeble-minded, and, as such will 
never respond to methods ordina- 
rily applied to normal delinquents, 
and if thrown out on the world to 
shift for themselves will be the 
criminals of to-morrow. 

7. Jail prisoners are our greatest 
prison problem; they liv3 in en- 
forced idleness while the taxpayer 



4. The daily population of our 
almshouses is 2,000, of whom 1,600 
are feeble-minded. Place the 1,600 
feeble-minded in a State institution 
where they can be cared for more 
economically and where they will 
not be allowed to propagate their 
kind, the counties to pay pro rata 
for their support. 

In a colony for the feeble-minded 
many of the almshouse inmates 
could be made self-supporting, and 
all the children except idiots could 
be trained to earn their own sup- 
port. 



5. Whenever and wherever found 
the feeble-minded should be recog- 
nized as such, and segregated where 
they will not be able to menace the 
public welfare and increase the tax- 
payer's burden. 



6. Children should be tested with 
the Binet scale in the public schools 
and courts, and classes established 
for backward children, both in the 
schools and reformatories. The 
feeble-minded child should be segre- 
gated and trained to earn his liv- 
ing. 



7. We should pay more attention 
to cases of young offenders, first 
offenders, and petty offenders. The 



112 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



works to support them at an an- 
nual cost of nearly $400,000.00. Over 
60% of the jail population is made 
up of feeble-minded and other per- 
manently anti-social persons who 
practically live in jail all the time, 
and will burden the taxpayer 
either in jails or other institutions 
with themselves and families as 
long as they live. 

The jail neither reforms prison- 
ers nor, as a rule, deters them 
from a repetition of delinquency. 



8. By examination of a segregated 
district in a certain Virginia city, 
71.6% of prostitutes plying their 
trade were found to be feeble-mind- 
ed, which has been confirmed by in- 
vestigations of the family history, 
etc., of these women. 

Not less than a million dollars is 
worse than thrown away in Vir- 
ginia in prostitution every year, 
and the prostitute in the bawdy 
house and in the street is the cen- 
ter for the spread of venereal dis- 
ease. 



background of each case should be 
studied, and punishment should 
take into consideration both the 
good of the individual and the weal 
of society. This class of offenders 
should be tried on probation and 
left in freedom conditioned upon 
good behavior and in cases of fines, 
they should be allowed to pay in 
instalments. 

As the jail system is wrong so- 
cially and economically, it should 
be abolished, and there should be 
established in its stead a State 
farm for defective delinquents, and 
city farms for ordinary short-term 
prisoners. Both classes can be 
made self-supporting, which would 
result in saving the State more in 
one year than the cost of purchas- 
ing and equipping a farm the size 
of the District of Columbia prison 
farm. 

8. Society should provide for 
these women, and not punish them 
for doing that which their heredi- 
ty made almost sure; they should 
be segregated where they can be 
protected against licentious men 
and bad, avaricious women, where 
they cannot harm others and may, 
in a measure, redeem themselves. 



Chapter XI 



A Plan for the Training, Segregation and Prevention of the 
Procreation of the Weak-minded. 

Scheme 1. 

It is suggested: 

1. That the protection of the State be extended to all persons who cannot 
take a normal part in the struggle of life owing to mental defect. Hereto- 
fore, State care has been extended to only those (save about fifty feeble- 
minded women of child-bearing age) who have been declared insane or 
epileptic by a commission. We suggest that hereafter all who are incapable, 
from mental defect, of managing their own affairs be placed under State 
supervision and control, unless satisfactorily cared for by parent or guard- 
ian. 

This is not an entirely new idea with us, for already we have the germ 
of it in that we have established at Madison Heights a colony to which we 
have been committing the worst cases of feeble-minded women of child- 
bearing age. The rest of the dependent or delinquent feeble-minded, not 
cared for satisfactorily by parents or guardians, are being supported by the 
taxpayer either in almshouses or jails. 

2. That the mental condition of these persons and not their poverty 
or their crime is the real ground for their claim for help from the State. 
Heretofore, many of them have been provided for by the authorities for 
the care of the poor, as paupers, or they have been dealt with as criminals 
on account of their violation of the law. We propose that hereafter they be 
dealt with primarily on the ground of their mental defect. 

This is based on justice too evident to require an explanation or defense. 

3. That in order thus adequately to deal with the mentally defective, 
it is necessary to ascertain who and where they are, and to bring them into 
relation with those legally authorized to deal with them. 

This is not an innovation. Four years ago the Legislature authorized the 
State Board of Charities and Corrections to find and register the mental 
defectives in the State. This has been done so far as the Board was able 
to do it under existing laws. 

4. That the marriage of mental defectives should be prohibited by law. 

5. That pronouncedly defective persons in the custody of State authori- 
ties, and other defectives that parents or guardians wish sterilized, should be 
thus dealt with. 

The superintendents of the hospitals for the insane, and the members 
of the General Board have been for years unanimous in the opinion that 
the marriage of mental defectives should be prohibited by law, and that 
there should be a law authorizing the sterilization of such persons. 

6. That the protection of mentally defective persons, whatever form it 
may take, be continued so long as it is necessary for their good. This is 



114 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

desirable not only in the interest of mental defectives, but also in the in- 
terest of the community. It follows that the State should have authority 
to segregate and to detain mentally defective persons under proper condi- 
tions and limitations. 

This is in the nature of an indeterminate sentence, and is at the basis 
of the law which provides that the superintendent of the Virginia Colony 
for the Feeble-minded shall have authority to hold mentally defective per- 
sons as long as he pleases, and discharge such persons when he pleases, 
resting upon the principle that the protection of mental defectives shall be 
continued as long as it is deemed necessary for their good. 

7. That in order properly to supervise private institutions and to pro- 
vide adequately for the safety of all mentally defective persons and likewise 
to protect the community, a central authority is indispensable. 

Therefore, it is proposed that the State Board of Charities and Correc- 
tions be empowered as follows: 

(a) To have charge of the registration of the mentally defective per- 
sons of the Commonwealth. 

(b) To have supervision of the care of such persons pending admission 
to institutions. 

(c) To have power to enforce the law for the protection of the mental 
defective in the community. 

(d) To have authority to supervise private institutions for the care 
and training of the feeble-minded. 

(e) To encourage research into the medical, social, and economic rela- 
tions of mental deficiency. 

(f) To have supervision of the deportation and removal of non-residents 
who are mentally defective. 

The State Board of Charities and Corrections is suggested as the central 
authority for reasons of economy and to avoid a multiplication of boards. 

How the Work Should Be Conducted. 

The work of the State care of the feeble-minded in Virginia should be 
divided into two departments: 

The Home Department, and 
The Institutional Department. 

The Home Department. — Whenever a child, not delinquent, neglected or 
dependent, is declared feeble-minded, the parent or guardian of such child 
should be notified and given instructions as to the menace of feeble-minded- 
ness to the child, the family and the community, and as to how to care for 
said child. All correspondence and advice in this connection should be 
confidential. 

Said parents or guardians should have the right to elect whether the 
mental defective shall be allowed to remain in the home or be committed 
to an institution. And if the child is to remain in the family, said parent 
or guardian should be given rules for the care and training of the feeble- 
minded, prepared by the State Board of Charities and Corrections. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 115 

When a child in the custody or under the supervision of the State Board 
of Charities and Corrections reaches the age of twenty-one years and is, in 
the opinion of the said board, feeble-minded, said child should be taken 
before the judge of the circuit court of the county or city in which he re- 
sides, in vacation, and if, in the opinion of the court he is feeble-minded, 
the court should have authority to commit him to the said State Board of 
Charities and Corrections, or to send him to a suitable institution. 

The Board of Charities and Corrections should have authority to place 
in family homes any destitute feeble-minded person who, in the opinion of 
the court, could be so placed without danger to the child, the home, or com- 
munity. The rules and regulations governing the feeble-minded committed 
to parents or guardians should apply in all cases of destitute feeble-minded 
persons placed in homes, and such persons should be regarded by the law as 
minors, according to their mental and not their physical age. 

The Home Department has for its guidance these principles: First, 
That the parents or guardians of a feeble-minded child have a right to the 
control of the child until it becomes dangerous or burdensome to the com- 
munity; Second, That the State has not the right to interfere in this control 
on the ground that the child is a mental defective, but only on the basis 
that the child is being so neglected that it is in danger of becoming a burden 
to the community, or so incorrigible as to become a menace to the com- 
munity's welfare; i. e., the State has a right to interfere in the control of a 
child only when such child is dependent, neglected, or delinquent. 

In regard to advising with the parents or guardians of feeble-minded, 
children, this is suggested on the principle that just as it is deemed wise 
and right for a physician to discuss, confidentially, with a parent or guardian 
the physical condition of a child, and just as the schools having medical 
inspection and employing nurses should report to the parent or guardian 
as to the child's physical condition, even so the State Board of Charities 
and Corrections or the State Board of Mental Deficiency should report, confi- 
dentially, to the parent or guardian when it appears that a child is a mental 
defective, and give instructions as to the potential danger to the family 
and to the community. 

The provision that "When a child in the custody or under the supervis- 
ion of the State Board of Charities and Corrections reaches the age of 
twenty-one years and is, in the opinion of said board, feeble-minded, said 
child should be taken before the judge of the circuit court," etc., is sug- 
gested for the protection of both the child and the community. For, 
although courts have the right to commit destitute and delinquent children 
to the Board of Charities and Corrections until they are twenty-one. yet 
the courts cannot legally commit such children beyond said limit — when 
they reach the age of twenty-one, they automatically are freed. If they are 
mental defectives and dangerous, or if they are inoffensive, yet incapable of 
protecting themselves from vicious or immoral influences, they should not 
be allowed to have freedom, for such freedom results in the worst kind of 
slavery. Hence the provision that they should at that climatic age be 
brought again into court. 

Institutional Department. — The institutional department should be com- 
posed of the following institutions: 



116 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

1. The public schools, with special classes for backward children. 
Such classes are now being organized in the public schools. The State 

superintendent advises that such classes can be organized gradually in all 
our school districts without additional expense. 

2. State school for feeble-minded and epileptic white children. Such a. 
school is now in operation under Dr. A. S. Priddy at the Virginia Colony 
for Epileptics and Feeble-minded. 

3. State school for feeble-minded and epileptic Negro children. 

This school can be put into operation at the Central State Hospital when 
the appropriation for maintenance has been made. 

4. State colony for white feeble-minded (already established). 

5. State colony for negro feeble-minded (already established on grounds 
of Central State Hospital, Petersburg.) 

6. Juvenile reformatories. (Which have already been established.) 

7. A farm colony for defective delinquents, to which all prostitutes and 
street-walkers and all repeaters should be committed. 

The farm colony for defective delinquents is the only new institution 
herein recommended. (Dr. A. S. Priddy has wisely stated that he could 
not handle defective delinquents in the Colony for the Feeble-minded.) The 
organization of such a farm is for the purpose of taking permanently anti- 
social persons — the repeaters and prostitutes — out of jail and placing them 
on this farm. 

8. City farms for delinquents. (At Lynchburg one such farm has been 
established; the land costing $5,000, the buildings and equipment $5,000. 
Such farms are to be established by the counties and cities at their discre- 
tion, to supplant the jails eventually. As stated, the law authorizing them 
has already been enacted.) 

The District of Columbia Prison Farm for Misdemeanants has been in 
operation five years. The Board of Charities and Corrections has visited 
and inspected the institution. The superintendent, Mr. W. H. Whittaker, 
says that it is more than paying expenses. He states that 75% of his 
inmates are feeble-minded, and that they are worth, at the least, 75c. a day r 
and that the actual cost per capita per diem for all expenses is 60c, so 
that there is a clear profit of at least 15c. a day for each prisoner, and the 
average sentence is 35 days. 

The suggestion that men and women, now in jail for delinquency, and 
suspected of being feeble-minded, be placed on a farm for defective delin- 
quents under observation for twelve months, is not a radical one. It is 
similar to the rule enforced in the hospitals for the insane with regard to 
the criminal insane. 

The Detection, Registration, Commitment, Training and Care of Defective 
Dependents and Delinquents. 

Defectives in Public Schools. — There should be organized as far as 
practicable, in every school district classes for backward children. (Such 
classes are now being organized in the cities and this work can be gradually 
extended as suggested without additional expense to the State.) All chil- 
dren, upon admission to these classes, should be given a thorough physical 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 117 



and mental examination, if such examination has not already been given, 
and a report of such examination should be made to the State Board of 
Charities and Corrections. A record of the progress of each child in any- 
such class should be kept, and a mental examination should be given at 
least once during the session. (See Appendix, page 120.) 

Records of progress and of mental examinations should be forwarded to 
the State Board of Charities and Corrections, and whenever, in the opinion 
of the said Board and the Division Superintendent of Schools, a child has 
proven to be a mental defective, the said Board should have authority, in its 
discretion, to transfer such child to the State School for the Feeble-minded, 
as provided by law. 

State School for Feeble-Minded and Epileptic Children. — The object of 
this school should be the manual training of defective children with a view to 
equipping them so that they will be self-supporting; and whenever, in the 
opinion of the superintendent of the school, a child has been trained suffi- 
ciently to become self-supporting he should be transferred to the colony for 
the feeble-minded, or placed in a home, as the law provides. 

Whenever the parent or guardian of a mentally defective child is able 
to provide for such child in the State school for the feeble-minded, he should 
be required to pay an amount equal to the actual expense of care and train- 
ing during the child's stay at the institution. Destitute children, however, 
should be received free of cost. 

All children received by agencies for the care and training of destitute 
children should be given a physical and mental test before admission, and 
report of such tests should be made to the State Board of Charities and 
Corrections, and the said board should have the right of supervision of all 
such institutions. And the counties, cities or institutions committing chil- 
dren to the school for the feeble-minded should pay cost of maintenance, 
which would be less than the cost of maintenance at the county or city alms- 
house. 

Examination and Commitment of Children Brought into Court. — All chil- 
dren under eighteen years of age, who are brought into court, should be 
given a mental and physical test prescribed by the State Board of Charities 
aud Corrections; and a study of their family history should be made and a 
record of such test and family history filed for reference. Whenever, in the 
opinion of the said Board and Court a delinquent or dependent child is 
feeble-minded, the said Board should have authority, in its discretion, with 
the consent of the court to transfer such child to the school for the feeble- 
minded, or the State colony for the feeble-minded. 

Examination and Commitment of Adults Brought into Court. — All per- 
sons committed to jail for violation of the laws of the State of Virginia 
should be examined by the court as to their family, economic and school 
history, and the record of such examination filed in the clerk's office of the 
county or city, and a copy of such record forwarded to the State Board of 
Charities and Corrections. 

All persons convicted of and sentenced to jail for a second offense should 
be given a mental examination prescribed by the State Board of Charities 
and Corrections, and if the said board believes that such person is a mental 



118 State Board of Charities and Corrections 

defective, he should be transferred to the State colony for defective delin- 
quents, and placed under observation and subjected to a mental test once 
in six months for a period of one year. If, at the expiration of one year 
the superintendent of the colony and the State Board of Charities and Cor- 
rections believe said person to be normal mentally, he should be discharged; 
or at the discretion of the Superintendent turned over to the proper authori- 
ties for such action as they may deem wise; if, on the other hand, the said 
board and superintendent are of the opinion that the person is a mental 
defective, he should be committed to the colony for defective delinquents 
on an indeterminate sentence. 

Defectives in Juvenile Reformatories. — It is proposed that the schools at 
the juvenile reformatories be made schools for backward children, and that 
all children committed to these institutions be given a thorough physical 
and mental examination, and that a study be made of the family history of 
these children, and that a report of such examination and study of family 
history be forwarded to the State Board of Charities and Corrections; that 
a record be made of the progress of these children in the school, and that 
they be subjected to a mental test at least once a year; that a copy of the 
school records and other records of tests be forwarded to the State Board 
of Charities and Corrections, and said board should have authority, with 
the consent of the court, to transfer from reformatories to the State schools 
for the feeble-minded, any child who, after investigation, the State Board of 
Charities and Corrections, and the division superintendent of schools, be- 
lieve to be mentally defective. 

The foregoing plan is suggested in response to a demand that the 
scheme be made as inexpensive as possible. Scheme II points out a more 
expensive, but in the opinion of many competent judges, a better way. 

Scheme II. 

There are approximately 1,500 prisoners in Virginia jails every day. 
Say that 300 of them are awaiting trial or are to be transferred to the peni- 
tentiary, road camps, or hospitals for the insane; put the remaining 1,200 
at work on farms for delinquents, as we suggest and as is being done at 
Occoquan and at Lynchburg, and commit, as we have suggested, the re- 
peaters to the proposed State colony for misdemeanants, and at least $300.00 
a day will be saved; and as their labor will be worth an additional 25c. a 
day, the total saving would be at least $600 a day. 

The per capita cost of maintaining an average population of 2,000 pau- 
pers in almshouses is $184 per annum — more than the insane cost in our 
hospitals. To provide for 1,600 feeble-minded in a colony, as we suggest, 
would not cost more than $125 per capita per annum to begin with, and 
eventually, nearly all of the feeble-minded, except idiots, should there be 
made self-supporting. As the counties are now paying for the support of 
their feeble-minded paupers in county almshouses, they should bear the 
expense of maintaining them in the colony. As suggested, the almshouse 
real estate, which is valued at over a million dollars, if sold, could be used 
by the counties to pay for maintenance of feeble-minded paupers at the 
State Colony. Besides, these degenerate paupers would be better cared for, 
and would be prevented from propagating their kind. 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 119 

Accordingly, there would apparently be an immediate saving of not less 
than $300,000 per annum, with an ultimate reduction of degeneracy in no 
small degree. Certainly, therefore, it would, as a matter of economy, if this 
were the only consideration, be wise to spend $10,000 per annum in the 
work of segregating and undertaking to reduce the number of mental de- 
fectives. 

We therefore suggest, as an alternate plan: that a board composed of 
five members, be appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Sen- 
ate, to be known as the "State Mental Deficiency Board," and that there 
be conferred upon said board all the duties and powers suggested in plan 
number one; that the board be authorized to appoint an executive secretary, 
and that the Register of the Land Office be instructed to furnish the board 
an office; and that the sum of ten thousand dollars per annum be appropri- 
ated for the maintenance of said office. 

That the "State Mental Deficiency Board" be authorized to investigate 
and report upon the question of the advisability of establishing a separate 
State institution for the feeble-minded with colonies for the several grades 
of patients and schools for defective children. 

Distribution of Feebleminded Persons Reported to the State Board of 
Charities and Corrections 

Housed in Unsuitable Institutions 

In State hospitals for the insane 462 

In county and city almshouses G76 

In reformatories, one jail and the penitentiary 527 

In orphanages and children's agencies 153 

At Large 

Reported by physicians and ministers 2,496 

Helped by overseers of the poor 385 

In Suitable Institutions 

Miss Gundry's Private School, Falls Church, Va 20 

Virginia Colony for the Feeble-minded 70 

Total 4,789 



APPENDIX 



The Public Schools and the Abnormal Child 

By K. J. Hoke, 
Second Assistant Superintendent Richmond Public Schools. 

One of the criticisms which is often leveled against the Public School 
System of the United States is that the instruction is too mechanical; that 
the public schools tend to treat all children as if they were alike, both 
physically and mentally. The tendency in modern education to reach the 
individual needs of the children should meet this objection. The adminis- 
trators of our public schools are demanding that the instruction in the 
class-room be made more and more individual, that the teacher shall plan 
her instruction to reach the individual child instead of planning it to be 
presented to a large number of children at once, and assuming that all will 
profit alike from it. 

In following out this principle of instruction, one of the natural conse- 
quences has been that students of education are beginning to know more 
of the individual abilities of children and are planning instruction to train 
them accordingly. In this movement the psychologists are leading the way 
and are providing much information that serves as a basis for more scien- 
tific treatment of children. This information shows the wide range of 
abilities existing among children of the same class in spite of the fact that 
they have been so placed on the assumption that they were of the same 
ability. The following figures show the wide range in ability to add cor- 
rectly in eight (8) minutes a certain number of addition examples in a 
4A grade in the public schools of the city of Richmond: 

No. children. No. examples right. 

2 9 

1 7 

1 6 

1 5 

2 4 
6 3 

1 2 

2 1 

3 

A further illustration of this principle is shown by the following figures 
which give the different mental ages according to the Binet-^Simon Scale in 
a 3B grade of the same school system: 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



121 



No. children. 
3 

5 
20 



Mental ages. 



10 
11 
12 



Since this wide range of ability exists among children of a single class, 
manifestly it is the function of the public schools to determine its extent. 
If a school system attempts this problem, what means are available for its 
solution? 

In the first place, the grade and the chronological age of the child should 
always be available. When this information is arranged in a table form, 
it enables the teacher to locate the child which has fallen behind in its 
grade. The following table is given to illustrate this point: 





CHRONOLOGICAL AGES 


Grade 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


1A. 






5 


6 


















2 
4 
7 
4 


1 


2 


1 




IB 




2 

1 


3 
2 

4 














2A 










3 

5 

~~ 3 


1 
2 

2 






2B .. 


2 














3A 




3B 










3 


1 
















The normal ages for the different grades are as follows: 1A and IB 
grades, 7 years; 2A and 2B grades, 8 years; 3A and 3B grades, 9 years. All 
of these children are above these ages. 

After the child is located in the grade, the next source of information 
is the cumulative record which gives its progress in school. If a child is 
promoted at the end of each term, it would complete the elementary schools 
in 7 years, and its progress will be shown by the accompanying record card 
which is the history of a child's progress in the Richmond Public Schools 
(see illustration No. 1). 

This child entered the 1A grade in September, 1906. In February, 1907, 
it was promoted to the IB grade, and so on throughout its entire school life. 
If a child is not promoted each term, its record card will show a different 
progress. The accompanying record shows that the child spent 8 terms or 4 
years in the 1A grade and 3 terms or iy 2 years in the IB grade when it 
was taken into the ungraded class. At that time it was 15 years and 9 
months old, had been in school 5% years, and had completed the work of 
one year only (see illustration No. 2). 

The progress of still another child is given to illustrate further the fact 
that there are certain children who cannot profit by the illustration given 



122 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



to the normal child. This child spent 3 terms or 1%. years in the 1A grade, 
4 terms or 2 years in the IB grade, 3 terms or iy 2 years in the 2A grade, 
and was still in the 2B grade at the age of 15 years. It had been in school 
5% years and had completed only iy 2 years of work. (See illustration No. 3.) 





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ILLUSTRATION No. 1. 





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Mental Defectives in Virginia 



123 



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ILLUSTRATION No. 3. 



From these records the following points should be observed: 

1. The constant repetition of the same grade kills a child's interest. 

2. Instruction for children who cannot profit from it more readily is 
not economical and business-like. 

3. The presence of such children in a class-room hinders the progress 
of children who can profit from the instruction of the grade. 

The next means of determining the mental ability of children is through 
mental and physical tests. One of these tests which is widely used is the 
Bluet-Simon Measuring Scale. This test, in the hands of a skillful exam- 
iner, is a helpful aid in determining a child's mental ability. 

Figure 1 is a graphical representation of the results from the Binet- 
Simon Scale applied to all the children in the first four years of three fairly 
representative schools in the city of Richmond. The significant thing shown 
in this figure is that 19 children or 2.6% were 4 or more years mentally 
below their chronological age; and that 103 children or 13.8% were 2 and 
3 years mentally below their chronological age. It is commonly held that 
children who test 3 or more years back are feeble-minded. A more liberal 
classification is used in Richmond, as shown in the above graph. The 
policy has been to place those who test four or more years back in classes 
of 15 children each, and those who test two and three years back in classes 
of 20 children each. 

It is true, however, that the majority of the 2.6% are, or will become 
permanently mentally arrested, and even some of the 13.8%. Consequently 



124 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 






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FIGURE 



the number of feeble-minded children in the public schools is a problem 
of considerable proportion. 

As a usual thing, the children of the latter group can profit from the 
instruction given in the regular class. Most of these children have the 
normal amount of mentality, but have fallen behind because of late entrance, 
poor attendance, ill health, etc. All that is needed to place them on their 
feet is a little individual instruction. That these children do profit by the 
instruction given to the normal child is shown in Figure 2: 



%i(^AJ^ JAJTV* &/. t ^AASrU,,' If'* 



Jj^yyUll J-p 



U!.JlJ-CLA,cUcL 

.2. AJLfts. 3 AAflJ. 



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3 4-.1 
FIGURE 2. 



/£.& t>.° i-4 i.4 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



125 



At the beginning of the second term, 1914, there were 72 children in 
four classes. At that time all of these children were too old for the grades 
in which they were working. By June, 12.5% of them had caught up with 
their grades. 

These classes do not differ much from the regular class except in num- 
bers. Figure 3 shows one of these classes at work. 

In some cases considerable emphasis is placed on industrial work, espe- 
cially in order to arouse a child's interest. It is true, however, that some 
children are placed in these classes who cannot profit from the instruction 
given to normal children. They are the borderline cases which become per- 
manently arrested and must be provided with instruction of a different 
'nature. 




FIGURE 3. 



In classes of 15 children each the mentality is much lower as repre- 
sented by Figure 4, which shows that all the children are 4 and more years 
below, and are located at the lower extremity of the curve. 

These children can profit very little from the instruction given in the 
regular class. In fact, few of them can read beyond the second or third 
reader. Progress is not expected of them from this course. Their work is 
almost entirely industrial and centers around mat and rug weaving, wood- 
work, handwork, sewing, cooking and serving meals, crochet work, garden- 
ing, etc. Their number-work, language, and reading are based on their 
industrial work, e. g., number-^work is based on estimating the cost of their 
daily lunch, the amount of material in and cost of their rugs, mats, the 
cost of planting their garden, etc. Their language work consists in writing 



126 



State Board of Charities and Corrections 



the daily menu for the lunch, writing the order for the store, writing ads 
for sale of articles made, etc. Habits of industry, orderliness and self-con- 
trol are among the big things to be taught these children. Some skill can 
be acquired. Interest has been aroused in this work by selling as many of 
the articles made as possible, and permitting the children to share in the 
proceeds. During the second term of the session 1914-15, one of these 
classes, after paying for the supplies, had about $8.00, and another about 
$12.00, for distribution to the members of the class. 

At the beginning of the session 1915-16, the Richmond Public School 
System established a center for handling these children by combining four 
classes in one building. This plan offers an opportunity for better grading 
and more practical work. In addition, a psychological examiner has been 
employed to give a stated amount of time each day to a more exhaustive 
study of the mental and physical condition of these children. This work 
will be greatly facilitated by a psychological clinic which has been estab- 
lished by the Medical College of Virginia. 



To. 









?«+ 



Ia^Aj LaJA, £~*JA/ 4 



FIGURE 4. 



/ ajm *£ euft 



Figure 3 shows one of these classes at work, and Figure 5 shows 
another at lunch. 

The results from the work with the abnormal children in the city of 
Richmond seem to indicate that it is economical to have these children re- 
moved from the regular classes, to study them so that their mental ability 
can be known, and to instruct them to the extent that they can receive 
instruction along lines that will help them most. This policy is based on 
the principle that it is the inherited right of every child of school age to 
receive the kind and the amount of training it can profit by. To this end 
every modern school plant should provide means. Teachers should be 
trained to give the mental tests; accurate records of the progress of all 
children should be kept and provision should be made for the instruction 



Mental Defectives in Virginia 



127 



of such children in classes of not more than 15. The children of low men- 
tality who are passing through the hands of the teacher of to-day will be- 
come the weak-minded, helpless and dangerous adults of to-morrow. What 
are the teachers and the administrators doing to prepare themselves to 
handle this problem? Surely it is a duty which they cannot evade if they 
are to be educators in a broad and modern interpretation of that word. 

But after the public schools have located these children and placed them 
in ungraded classes and trained them as best they can, their work is left 
incomplete because the children soon reach an age when the schools can- 
not hold them any longer and there is no other authority to take charge 
of them. Consequently they go out into society to be preyed upon by and 
become a prey to society. It is at this point that the State should assume 



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FIGURE 5. 



control. A central governing body, acting under special legislation, should 
take up the work where the schools leave off. 

In the light of these facts, then, some such policy as the following seems 
advisable : 

1. It is the duty of the public schools to study the problem presented by 
the child of low mentality so that the number of feeble-minded children in 
the community can be known. 

2. It is the duty of the public schools to provide that kind of instruction 
for these children which will make them self-supporting citizens if they 
can profit by it, and so long as the home gives its share of proper super- 
vision. 




128 State Board of Charities and Corrections 



3. It is the duty of the public schools to provide instruction for feeble- 
minded children of school age in classes of not more than 15 children to 
a class. 

4. It is the duty of the State to take charge of these children who are 
institutional cases after the public schools have exhausted their means of 
helping them. 

By pursuing such a policy, many wards of the State would be trained to 
become self-supporting in a community where they are not brought in 
competition with the normal individual. Many of these people are passing 
through the hands of teachers to-day without their actual mental ability 
ever being known. The menace of the feeble-minded reproducing themselves 
would be cut off at its source. 



msr< 



iinniiii 0F C0NGRESS 

027 331 344 8 



